Extragenic suppressors of a dominant masculinizing her-1 mutation in C. elegans identify two new genes that affect sex determination in different ways
✍ Scribed by James Manser; William B. Wood; Marc D. Perry
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2002
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 343 KB
- Volume
- 34
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1526-954X
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✦ Synopsis
Abstract
Summary: The her‐1 regulatory switch gene in C. elegans sex determination is normally active in XO animals, resulting in male development, and inactive in XX animals, allowing hermaphrodite development. The her‐1(n695gf) mutation results in the incomplete transformation of XX animals into phenotypic males. We describe four extragenic mutations that suppress the masculinized phenotype of her‐1(n695gf) XX. They define two previously undescribed genes, sup‐26 and sup‐27. All four mutations exhibit semidominance of suppression and by themselves have no visible effects on sex determination in otherwise genotypically wild‐type XX or XO animals. Analysis of interactions with mutations in the major sex‐determining genes show that sup‐26 and sup‐27 influence sex determination in fundamentally different ways. sup‐26 appears to act independently of her‐1 to negatively modulate synthesis or function of tra‐2 in both XX and XO animals. sup‐27 may play a role in X‐chromosome dosage compensation and influence sex determination indirectly. genesis 34:184–195, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.