Characterization of sex-specific variants of doublesex and feminizer genes in stingless bee species

Author(s)

de Paula Freitas, Flavia Cristina ^{[1, 2]} ; Buchholz, Josephine ^[3] ; Nunes, Francis Morais Franco ^{[2, 4]} ; Cristino, Alexandre Santos ^[5] ; Simoes, Zila Luz Paulino ^{[6, 2]}

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Fed Alfenas, Inst Ciencias Biomed, Alfenas, MG - Brazil

^[2] Univ Sao Paulo, Fac Med Ribeirao Preto, Ribeirao Preto - Brazil

^[3] Martin Luther Univ Halle Wittenberg, Inst Biol, Halle, Saale - Germany

^[4] Univ Fed Sao Carlos, Dept Genet & Evolucao, Sao Carlos - Brazil

^[5] Griffith Univ, Griffith Inst Drug Discovery, Brisbane, Qld - Australia

^[6] Univ Sao Paulo, Fac Filosofia Ciencias & Letras Ribeirao Preto, Ribeirao Preto - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Apidologie; v. 51, n. 4, p. 469-480, AUG 2020.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

Sex determination is one of the major developmental events in higher metazoans, where complex molecular mechanisms define two physiologically and behaviorally distinct organisms still genetically compatible. In honey bees, the sex determination cascade is initiated by the allelic composition of complementary sex determiner (csd) gene: males develop from hemi or homozygous embryos, whereas females develop from heterozygous embryos. In females, different alleles of csd lead to the formation of female-specific variants of feminizer (fem) and doublesex (dsx). In males, male-specific variants of fem and dsx are formed by default. In this paper, we investigated the genes of sex determination in the stingless bees Melipona quadrifasciata, Scaptotrigona postica, and Frieseomelitta varia. Our results revealed that the architecture of fem and dsx transcripts is highly conserved among the three stingless bee species, and also with honey bees. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 16/06657-0 - Analysis of the endocrine system and circadian cycle as modulators of Apis mellifera development
• Grantee: Zilá Luz Paulino Simões
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants