Journal article
Roles for mating and environment in C. elegans sex determination
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science), Vol.302(5647), pp.1046-1049
11/07/2003
DOI: 10.1126/science.1087946
PMID: 14605370
Abstract
In Caenorhabditis elegans the two sexes, hermaphrodites and males, are thought to be irreversibly determined at fertilization by the ratio of X chromosomes to sets of autosomes: XX embryos develop as hermaphrodites and XO embryos as males. We show instead that both sex and genotype of C. elegans can be altered postembryonically and that this flexibility requires sexual reproduction. When grown in specific bacterial metabolites, some XX larvae generated by mating males and hermaphrodites develop as males and lose one X chromosome. However, XX larvae produced by hermaphrodite self-fertilization show no such changes. We propose that sexual reproduction increases developmental flexibility of progeny, allowing for better adaptation to changing environments.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Roles for mating and environment in C. elegans sex determination
- Creators
- Veena Prahlad - Genetics Department, University of Wisconsin, 445 Henry Mall, Madison, WI 53706, USADave PilgrimElizabeth B Goodwin
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science), Vol.302(5647), pp.1046-1049
- DOI
- 10.1126/science.1087946
- PMID
- 14605370
- NLM abbreviation
- Science
- ISSN
- 0036-8075
- eISSN
- 1095-9203
- Publisher
- United States
- Grant note
- GM51836 / NIGMS NIH HHS
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 11/07/2003
- Academic Unit
- Iowa Neuroscience Institute; Biology
- Record Identifier
- 9983991956302771
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