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The role of doublesex in the evolution of exaggerated horns in the Japanese rhinoceros beetle
Author(s) -
Ito Yuta,
Harigai Ayane,
Nakata Moe,
Hosoya Tadatsugu,
Araya Kunio,
Oba Yuichi,
Ito Akinori,
Ohde Takahiro,
Yaginuma Toshinobu,
Niimi Teruyuki
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
embo reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.584
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1469-3178
pISSN - 1469-221X
DOI - 10.1038/embor.2013.50
Subject(s) - doublesex , biology , rhinoceros , sexual dimorphism , french horn , evolutionary biology , morphogenesis , sexual selection , rna interference , sexual differentiation , genetics , zoology , gene , rna , psychology , pedagogy , rna splicing
Male‐specific exaggerated horns are an evolutionary novelty and have diverged rapidly via intrasexual selection. Here, we investigated the function of the conserved sex‐determination gene doublesex ( dsx ) in the Japanese rhinoceros beetle ( Trypoxylus dichotomus ) using RNA interference (RNAi). Our results show that the sex‐specific T. dichotomus dsx isoforms have an antagonistic function for head horn formation and only the male isoform has a role for thoracic horn formation. These results indicate that the novel sex‐specific regulation of dsx during horn morphogenesis might have been the key evolutionary developmental event at the transition from sexually monomorphic to sexually dimorphic horns.