Differentiated evolutionary conservatism and lack of polymorphism of crucial sex determination genes (SRY and SOX9) in four species of the family Canidae.
The sex determination process is under the control of several genes of which two (SRY and SOX9), encoding transcription factors, play a crucial role. It is well-known that mutations at these genes may cause the development of an intersexual phenotype. The aim of this study was to conduct a comparative analysis of the coding sequence and 5'-flanking regions of both genes in four species of the family Canidae (the dog, red fox, arctic fox and Chinese raccoon dog). Similarity of the coding sequence of the SOX9 gene among the studied species was higher (99.7-99.9%) than in the case of the SRY gene (96.7-97.3%). Only single nucleotide changes were found in the compared coding sequences, whereas in the 5'-flanking region of both genes nucleotide substitutions, as well as insertions and deletions were observed. None of the changes detected in the 5'-flanking region occurred within the potential consensus sequences for transcription factors. No polymorphism was found for either of these genes in any of the analyzed species.
Department of Genetics and Animal Breeding, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Wołyńska 33, 60-637 Poznań, Poland.
Joanna
J
Nowacka-Woszuk
Marek
M
Switonski
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D046028:Canidae / Q000235:genetics*; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D024282:Genes, sry / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics*; D055758:SOX9 Transcription Factor / Q000235:genetics*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D019849:Sex Determination Processes
D055758:SOX9 Transcription Factor; D004247:DNA