Jacob L Mueller, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA
Mariana F Wolfner, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA
Published online: September 2005
DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0003939
The distinct development of females and males is usually the consequence of differences in their sex chromosome constitution. To compensate for these differences, the sexes adjust the expression of sex-linked genes. Some inheritance patterns depend on the sex or sex chromosome make-up of a parent.
Keywords: sex chromosomes (X, Y, Z, W); sex determination; dosage compensation; female/male; sex-based inheritance patterns
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Figure 1. Summary of the sex-determining mechanisms of humans, flies and worms as described in the text. Some details have been deleted for simplicity, including the autoregulation of Sxl expression that maintains it in the mode set by the X:A ratio, the DAX1/SRY interaction, and some of the genes in the regulatory cascades.
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Figure 2. Summary of some solutions to the ‘gene dosage problem’, as described in the text. (a) X-inactivation control in mammals, simplified for clarity by not showing that initially both X-chromosomes accumulate Xist RNA. The X-chromosome drawn in green has been inactivated, except for its Xist locus and its pseudoautosomal region. (b) Summary of the situation in flies (the DCC complex is shown schematically as a clump of circles) and nematodes (the chromosome binding complex is shown schematically as a clump of diamonds). As in Figure
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| Panning B and Jaenisch R (1998) RNA and the epigenetic regulation of X chromosome inactivation. Cell 93: 305–308. | |
| Pomiankowski A, Nöthiger R and Wilkins A (2004) The evolution of the Drosophilasex-determination pathway. Genetics 166: 1761–1773. | |
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