Doublesex mediates species-, sex-, environment- and trait-specific exaggeration of size and shape.

ABSTRACT: Context-dependent trait exaggeration is a major contributor to phenotypic diversity. However, the genetic modifiers instructing development across multiple contexts remain largely unknown. We use the arthropod tibia, a hotspot for segmental differentiation, as a paradigm to assess the developmental mechanisms underlying the context-dependent structural exaggeration of size and shape through nutritional plasticity, sexual dimorphism and segmental differentiation. Using an RNAseq approach in the sexually dimorphic and male-polyphenic dung beetle Digitonthophagus gazella, we find that only a small portion (3.7%) of all transcripts covary positively in expression level with trait size across contexts. However, RNAi-mediated knockdown of the conserved sex-determination gene doublesex<

SUBMITTER: Rohner PT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8220263 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature