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How do germ cells choose their sex? Drosophila as a paradigm
Author(s) -
SteinmannZwicky Monica
Publication year - 1992
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.950140803
Subject(s) - germ , somatic cell , germline , biology , drosophila (subgenus) , germ cell , germ line development , genetics , gene , microbiology and biotechnology , evolutionary biology
Sex determination in the germ line may either rely on cell‐autonomous genetic information, or it may be imposed during development by inductive somatic signals. In Drosophila , both mechanisms contribute to ensure that germ cells are oogenic when differentiating in females and spermatogenic when differentiating in males. Some of the genes that are involved in germ line sex determination have been identified. In other species, including vertebrates, inductive signals are commonly used to determine the sex of germ cells.