![]() Insects have sex-specific splicing that generates a male- ( dsx M) and female-specific ( dsx F) dsx isoform. Although the upstream signal is not conserved, with X:A and fem as the primary signals in the fruit fly and silkworm, respectively, the role of dsx is conserved. The product of the W chromosome derived fem piRNA targets the downstream gene, BmMasc, to control Bmdsx sex-specific splicing BmPSI and BmImp regulate Bmdsx splicing through binding CE1 sequences of Bmdsx pre-mRNA. In the silkworm, the sex determination cascade involves at least 4 distinct components: a female-enriched PIWI-interacting RNA ( fem), a responding gene, BmMasc, a P-element somatic inhibitor ( BmPSI) / ( BmImp), and Bmdsx. The sex determining genetic cascade based on tra/ tra2 control of dsx and fru splicing is widely conserved in many Diptera, Coleoptera and Hymenoptera, while the domesticated Bombyx mori, lack tra/ tra2 as regulators of dsx/ fru. Tra and tra2 proteins control the splicing of dsx and fru which are located at the bottom of the sex determination pathway to maintain sexual development and behavior. Sxl proteins control the splicing of female tra mRNA which gives rise to functional proteins, while no functional Sxl proteins are produced in the male. An X:A ratio of 1 promotes transcription of Sxl and results in feminization, while an X:A ratio of 0.5 results in Sxl suppression and male differentiation. In the model insect Drosophila melanogaster, sex determination is controlled hierarchically by X:A, Sex-lethal ( Sxl), transformer or transformer 2 ( tra/ tra2), doublesex ( dsx), and fruitless ( fru). The genetic cascades of primary signalling that underlie sex determination in insects have high diversity among species. Sex determination pathways control the sexually dimorphic traits of males and females, including sexual differentiation and sexual behavior. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Ĭompeting interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the SA-SIBS scholarship program. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.ĭata Availability: The transcriptome data are available from the Dryad database (DOI: ).įunding: YH lab was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation of China (31802005, 3153000103918), Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB11010500), the National Postdoctoral Program for Innovative Talents (BX201700268). Received: JanuAccepted: Published: June 10, 2020Ĭopyright: © 2020 Xu et al. Copenhaver, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, UNITED STATES (2020) Regulation of olfactory-based sex behaviors in the silkworm by genes in the sex-determination cascade. Our results suggest that Bmdsx and Bmfru are at the base of the two primary pathways that regulate olfactory-based sexual behavior.Ĭitation: Xu J, Liu W, Yang D, Chen S, Chen K, Liu Z, et al. Lack of Bmfru expression significantly reduced the perception of the minor pheromone component bombykal due to the down regulation of BmOR3 expression further, functional analysis revealed that loss of the product of BmOR3 played a key role in terminating male mating behavior. Loss of Bmfru completely blocked mating, but males displayed normal courtship behavior. Interestingly, we found that mating behavior was regulated independently by another sexual differentiation gene, Bmfru. Loss of Bmdsx gene expression significantly reduced the peripheral perception of the major pheromone component bombykol by reducing expression of the product of the BmOR1 gene which completely blocked courtship in adult males. Here by using CRISPR/Cas9 and electrophysiological techniques we found that courtship and mating behaviors are regulated in male silk moths by mutating genes in the sex determination cascade belonging to two conserved pathways. Compared to other insects, Bombyx mori, the domesticated silkworm, has relatively simple sexual behaviors as it cannot fly. Insect courtship and mating depend on integration of olfactory, visual, and tactile cues. ![]()
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