The evolving puzzle of autosomal versus Y-linked male determination in Musca domestica.

ABSTRACT: Sex determination is one of the most rapidly evolving developmental pathways, but the factors responsible for this fast evolution are not well resolved. The house fly, Musca domestica, is an ideal model for studying sex determination because house fly sex determination is polygenic and varies considerably between populations. Male house flies possess a male-determining locus, the M factor, which can be located on the Y or X chromosome or any of the five autosomes. There can be a single M or multiple M factors present in an individual male, in heterozygous or homozygous condition. Males with multiple copies of M skew the sex ratio toward the production of males. Potentially in response to these male-biased sex ratios, an allele of the gene transformer, Md-tra(D), promotes female development

SUBMITTER: Hamm RL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4349091 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature