A conserved role of the duplicated Masculinizer gene in sex determination of the Mediterranean flour moth, Ephestia kuehniella

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60076658%3A12310%2F21%3A43903483" target="_blank" >RIV/60076658:12310/21:43903483 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1009420" target="_blank" >https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1009420</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1009420" target="_blank" >10.1371/journal.pgen.1009420</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

A conserved role of the duplicated Masculinizer gene in sex determination of the Mediterranean flour moth, Ephestia kuehniella

Original language description

Author summary The sex-determining cascade in the silkworm, Bombyx mori, differs greatly from those of other insects. In B. mori, female development is initiated by Fem piRNA expressed from the W chromosome during early embryogenesis. Fem piRNA silences Masculinizer (Masc) thereby blocking the male pathway resulting in female development. It is currently unknown whether this cascade is conserved across Lepidoptera. In the Mediterranean flour moth, Ephestia kuehniella, we identified an ortholog of Masc and discovered its functional duplication on the Z chromosome, which has not yet been found in any other lepidopteran species. We provide two lines of evidence that the EkMasc and/or EkMascB genes play an essential role in masculinization: (i) they show a peak of expression during early embryogenesis in ZZ but not in WZ embryos and (ii) their simultaneous silencing by RNAi results in female-specific splicing of the E. kuehniella doublesex gene (Ekdsx) in ZZ embryos and in a female-biased sex ratio. Our results suggest a conserved role of the duplicated Masc gene in sex determination of E. kuehniella. Sex determination in the silkworm, Bombyx mori, is based on Feminizer (Fem), a W-linked Fem piRNA that triggers female development in WZ individuals, and the Z-linked Masculinizer (Masc), which initiates male development and dosage compensation in ZZ individuals. While Fem piRNA is missing in a close relative of B. mori, Masc determines sex in several representatives of distant lepidopteran lineages. We studied the molecular mechanisms of sex determination in the Mediterranean flour moth, Ephestia kuehniella (Pyralidae). We identified an E. kuehniella Masc ortholog, EkMasc, and its paralog resulting from a recent duplication, EkMascB. Both genes are located on the Z chromosome and encode a similar Masc protein that contains two conserved domains but has lost the conserved double zinc finger domain. We developed PCR-based genetic sexing and demonstrated a peak in the expression of EkMasc and EkMascB genes only in early male embryos. Simultaneous knock-down experiments of both EkMasc and EkMascB using RNAi during early embryogenesis led to a shift from male- to female-specific splicing of the E. kuehniella doublesex gene (Ekdsx), their downstream effector, in ZZ embryos and resulted in a strong female-biased sex-ratio. Our results thus confirmed the conserved role of EkMasc and/or EkMascB in masculinization. We suggest that the C-terminal proline-rich domain, we have identified in all functionally confirmed Masc proteins, in conjunction with the masculinizing domain, is important for transcriptional regulation of sex determination in Lepidoptera. The function of the Masc double zinc finger domain is still unknown, but appears to have been lost in E. kuehniella.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

10603 - Genetics and heredity (medical genetics to be 3)

Project

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Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2021

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

PLoS Genetics

ISSN

1553-7390

e-ISSN

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Volume of the periodical

17

Issue of the periodical within the volume

8

Country of publishing house

US - UNITED STATES

Number of pages

25

Pages from-to

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UT code for WoS article

000680183700002

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85112182089