Premium
It ain't over till it's ova: germline sex determination in C. elegans
Author(s) -
Kuwabara Patricia E.,
Perry Marc D.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
bioessays
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.175
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1521-1878
pISSN - 0265-9247
DOI - 10.1002/bies.1085
Subject(s) - germline , hermaphrodite , biology , caenorhabditis elegans , genetics , somatic cell , cell fate determination , gene , zoology , transcription factor
Abstract 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. BioEssays 23:596–604, 2001. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.