Genomic and Functional Studies of Drosophila Sex Hierarchy Regulated Gene Expression in Adult Head and Nervous System Tissues
Figure 1
The Sex Determination Hierarchy and Microarray Experimental Overview
(A) The Drosophila sex determination hierarchy consists of an alternative pre-mRNA splicing cascade, culminating in the production of sex-specific transcription factors encoded by dsx and fru P1. In Drosophila, the primary determinant of sex is the X chromosome to autosome ratio. In females, this ratio is one and leads to the production of SXL. sxl, tra, and tra-2 encode pre-mRNA splicing factors. SXL regulates sxl and tra pre-mRNA splicing, resulting in the production of TRA in females. TRA together with TRA-2 regulates the splicing of dsx and fru P1 pre-mRNAs. In males, dsx and fru P1 are spliced by the default pathway. Arrows indicate regulation of pre-mRNA splicing, and hourglass shapes indicate translation. The dotted line indicates inhibition of the dosage compensation (DC) pathway.
(B) Experimental overview for microarray comparisons. The genotypes and phenotypes of animals from which the microarray probe pairs are derived are indicated in columns with headings Target 1 and Target 2. For each genotype, the chromosomal sex is shown in parentheses. The rationale for the experimental comparison is indicated. The number of genes that met the statistical criteria (see text) is indicated in the column with heading โGenes.โ
doi:0.1371/journal.pgen.0030216.g001
