Differential intron retention in Jumonji chromatin modifier genes is implicated in reptile temperature-dependent sex determination.

ABSTRACT: In many vertebrates, sex of offspring is determined by external environmental cues rather than by sex chromosomes. In reptiles, for instance, temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD) is common. Despite decades of work, the mechanism by which temperature is converted into a sex-determining signal remains mysterious. This is partly because it is difficult to distinguish the primary molecular events of TSD from the confounding downstream signatures of sexual differentiation. We use the Australian central bearded dragon, in which chromosomal sex determination is overridden at high temperatures to produce sex-reversed female offspring, as a unique model to identify TSD-specific features of the transcriptome. We show that an intron is retained in mature transcripts from each of two Jumon

SUBMITTER: Deveson IW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5470834 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature