QTL Mapping of Sex Determination Loci Supports an Ancient Pathway in Ants and Honey Bees.

ABSTRACT: Sex determination mechanisms play a central role in life-history characteristics, affecting mating systems, sex ratios, inbreeding tolerance, etc. Downstream components of sex determination pathways are highly conserved, but upstream components evolve rapidly. Evolutionary dynamics of sex determination remain poorly understood, particularly because mechanisms appear so diverse. Here we investigate the origins and evolution of complementary sex determination (CSD) in ants and bees. The honey bee has a well-characterized CSD locus, containing tandemly arranged homologs of the transformer gene [complementary sex determiner (csd) and feminizer (fem)]. Such tandem paralogs appear frequently in aculeate hymenopteran genomes. However, only comparative genomic, but not functional, data support a b

SUBMITTER: Miyakawa MO 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4636138 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature