Sex determination in moths and butterflies: Masculinizer as key player

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60077344%3A_____%2F25%3A00619649" target="_blank" >RIV/60077344:_____/25:00619649 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214574525000458/pdfft?md5=d525464098a4ce7c2ffbbe2602e00ee9&pid=1-s2.0-S2214574525000458-main.pdf" target="_blank" >https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214574525000458/pdfft?md5=d525464098a4ce7c2ffbbe2602e00ee9&pid=1-s2.0-S2214574525000458-main.pdf</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2025.101375" target="_blank" >10.1016/j.cois.2025.101375</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Sex determination in moths and butterflies: Masculinizer as key player

Original language description

Knowledge about sex determination in Lepidoptera is starting to unfold just over a decade after the discovery of the primary sex determination trigger in the silkworm Bombyx mori. The silkworm has a W-dominant sex determination mechanism with a PIWI-interacting RNA (piRNA) precursor gene called Feminizer (Fem) as the primary trigger. The emerging view is that the silkworm is unsuitable to predict primary triggers in other Lepidoptera species, despite its role as model organism. However, the Z-linked gene named Masculinizer (Masc), which is targeted by Fem piRNA in the silkworm, plays a key role in sex determination in all species studied so far. This conserved role of Masc at the beginning of the sex determination cascade differs from what is known in other insects, where the cascade is initially diverse and becomes increasingly conserved towards the end, where doublesex (dsx) is alternatively spliced into a female or male variant. Sex-specific dsx splicing is also conserved in Lepidoptera, while the other genes which make up the sex-determining cascade are yet to be revealed in full detail. The sex determination mechanisms in two species are highlighted because, unlike the silkworm, they do not rely on a primary trigger from the W chromosome. The moth Samia cynthia ricini uses the ratio of Z chromosomes to autosome sets to determine sex. The butterfly Bicyclus anynana has a sex determination more similar to the honey bee than to the silkworm, with the zygosity of a hypervariable region of Masc determining whether individuals become female or male.

Czech name

—

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

—

OECD FORD branch

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

Project

Result was created during the realization of more than one project. More information in the Projects tab.

Continuities

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Publication year

2025

Confidentiality

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

Name of the periodical

Current Opinion in Insect Science

ISSN

2214-5745

e-ISSN

2214-5753

Volume of the periodical

70

Issue of the periodical within the volume

AUG 01

Country of publishing house

NL - THE KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS

Number of pages

7

Pages from-to

101375

UT code for WoS article

001489991200001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-105004461888