{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,21]],"date-time":"2026-05-21T06:41:53Z","timestamp":1779345713603,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":41,"publisher":"The Company of Biologists","issue":"8","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[1998,4,15]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title>\n               <jats:p>Sex-lethal (Sxl) is the master switch gene for somatic sex determination in Drosophila melanogaster. In XX animals, Sxl becomes activated and imposes female development; in X(Y) animals, Sxl remains inactive and male development ensues. A switch gene for sex determination, called F, has also been identified in the housefly, Musca domestica. An active F dictates female development, while male development ensues when F is inactive. To test if the switch functions of Sxl and F are founded on a common molecular basis, we isolated the homologous Sxl gene in the housefly. Though highly conserved in sequence, Musca-Sxl is not sex-specifically regulated: the same transcripts and protein isoforms are expressed in both male and female animals throughout development. Musca-Sxl is apparently not controlled by the primary sex-determining signal and, thus, is unlikely to correspond to the F gene. Ectopic expression of Musca-SXL protein in Drosophila does not exert any noticeable effects on the known target genes of endogenous Sxl. Instead, forced overexpression of the transgene eventually results in lethality of both XY and XX animals and in developmental abnormalities in some escaper XY animals. Similar results were obtained with the Sxl homologue of Ceratitis capitata (Saccone, G., Peluso, I., Artiaco, D., Giodano, E., Bopp, D. and Polito, L. C. (1998) Development 125, 1495\u20131500) suggesting that, in these non-drosophilid species, Sxl performs a function different from that in sex determination.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1242\/dev.125.8.1487","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,23]],"date-time":"2021-04-23T19:47:48Z","timestamp":1619207268000},"page":"1487-1494","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":107,"title":["<i>Sex-lethal<\/i>, the master sex-determining gene in <i>Drosophila<\/i>, is not sex-specifically regulated in <i>Musca domestica<\/i>"],"prefix":"10.1242","volume":"125","author":[{"given":"Martin","family":"Meise","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Zoological Institute , , Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Z\u00fcrich, Switzerland"},{"name":"University of Z\u00fcrich-Irchel , , Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Z\u00fcrich, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Denise","family":"Hilfiker-Kleiner","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Zoological Institute , , Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Z\u00fcrich, Switzerland"},{"name":"University of Z\u00fcrich-Irchel , , Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Z\u00fcrich, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Andreas","family":"D\u00fcbendorfer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Zoological Institute , , Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Z\u00fcrich, Switzerland"},{"name":"University of Z\u00fcrich-Irchel , , Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Z\u00fcrich, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Claudia Brunner, Rolf","family":"N\u00f6thiger","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Zoological Institute , , Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Z\u00fcrich, Switzerland"},{"name":"University of Z\u00fcrich-Irchel , , Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Z\u00fcrich, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Daniel","family":"Bopp","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Zoological Institute , , Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Z\u00fcrich, Switzerland"},{"name":"University of Z\u00fcrich-Irchel , , Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Z\u00fcrich, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"237","published-online":{"date-parts":[[1998,4,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"2025021501032625000_DEVELOP_125_8_1487C1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3245","DOI":"10.1242\/dev.121.10.3245","article-title":"The msl-2 dosage compensation gene of Drosophila encodes a putative DNA-binding protein whose expression is sex-specifically regulated by Sex-lethal","volume":"121","author":"Bashaw","year":"1995","journal-title":"Development"},{"key":"2025021501032625000_DEVELOP_125_8_1487C2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1037","DOI":"10.1016\/0092-8674(88)90248-6","article-title":"Sex-lethal, a Drosophila sex determination switch gene, exhibits sex-specific RNA splicing and sequence similarity to RNA binding proteins","volume":"55","author":"Bell","year":"1988","journal-title":"Cell"},{"key":"2025021501032625000_DEVELOP_125_8_1487C3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"229","DOI":"10.1016\/0092-8674(91)90157-T","article-title":"Positive autoregulation of Sex-lethal by alternative splicing maintains the female determined state in Drosophila","volume":"65","author":"Bell","year":"1991","journal-title":"Cell"},{"key":"2025021501032625000_DEVELOP_125_8_1487C4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"403","DOI":"10.1101\/gad.5.3.403","article-title":"Developmental distribution of female-specific Sex-lethal proteins in Drosophila melanogaster","volume":"5","author":"Bopp","year":"1991","journal-title":"Genes Dev"},{"key":"2025021501032625000_DEVELOP_125_8_1487C5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"797","DOI":"10.1242\/dev.118.3.797","article-title":"Expression of the Sex-lethal gene is controlled at multiple levels during Drosophila oogenesis","volume":"118","author":"Bopp","year":"1993","journal-title":"Development"},{"key":"2025021501032625000_DEVELOP_125_8_1487C6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"971","DOI":"10.1242\/dev.122.3.971","article-title":"Sex-specific control of Sex-lethal is a conserved mechanism for sex determination in the genus Drosophila","volume":"122","author":"Bopp","year":"1996","journal-title":"Development"},{"key":"2025021501032625000_DEVELOP_125_8_1487C7","first-page":"385","article-title":"The Drosophila sex determination signal: how do flies count to two? 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