It ain't over till it's ova: germline sex determination in C. elegans.
Sex determination in most organisms involves a simple binary fate choice between male or female development; the outcome of this decision has profound effects on organismal biology, biochemistry and behaviour. In the nematode C. elegans, there is also a binary choice, either male or hermaphrodite. In C. elegans, distinct genetic pathways control somatic and germline sexual cell fate. Both pathways share a common set of globally acting regulatory genes; however, germline-specific regulatory genes also participate in the decision to make male or female gametes. The determination of sexual fate in the germline of the facultative hermaphrodite poses a special problem, because first sperm then oocytes are produced. It has emerged that additional layers of post-transcriptional regulation have been imposed to modulate the activities of the global sex-determining genes, tra-2 and fem-3; the balance between these activities is crucial in controlling sexual cell fate in the hermaphrodite germline.
Kuwabara
P E
PE
The Sanger Centre, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, UK. pek@sanger.ac.uk
Perry
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MD
D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000235:genetics*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002455:Cell Division; D005854:Germ Cells / Q000166:cytology; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D010063:Ovum; D012323:RNA Processing, Post-Transcriptional; D019849:Sex Determination Processes
D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D015801:Helminth Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; C075059:fem-3 protein, C elegans; C076107:tra-2 protein, C elegans