The Female-Determining Gene F of the Housefly, Musca domestica, Acts Maternally to Regulate Its Own Zygotic Activity

[摘要] In Musca domestica , the common housefly, female development requires the continuous activity of the sex-determining gene F from early embryogenesis until metamorphosis. To activate F in embryogenesis, two conditions must be met: There must be no male-determining M factor in the zygotic genome, and the egg must be preconditioned by F activity in the maternal germ line. This maternal activity can be suppressed by introducing an M factor into the maternal germ line, which causes all offspring, including those that do not carry M , to develop as males. By transplantation of pole cells (germline progenitor cells) we have constructed such females with a genetically male germ line and, simultaneously, males with a genetically female germ line carrying a constitutive allele of F [ FDominant ( FD )]. Crosses between these animals yielded offspring that, despite the presence of M in the maternal germ line, were of female sex, solely due to zygotic FD brought in via the sperm. This shows that zygotic F function alone is sufficient to promote female development and that in the wild-type situation, maternal F product serves no other function but to activate the zygotic F gene.

[学科分类] 医学（综合）