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Differential regulation drives plasticity in sex determination gene networks

MacCarthy, T; Seymour, RM; Pomiankowski, A; (2010) Differential regulation drives plasticity in sex determination gene networks. BMC EVOL BIOL , 10 , Article 388. 10.1186/1471-2148-10-388. Green open access

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Abstract

Background: Sex determination networks evolve rapidly and have been studied intensely across many species, particularly in insects, thus presenting good models to study the evolutionary plasticity of gene networks.Results: We study the evolution of an unlinked gene capable of regulating an existing diploid sex determination system. Differential gene expression determines phenotypic sex and fitness, dramatically reducing the number of assumptions of previous models. It allows us to make a quantitative evaluation of the full range of evolutionary outcomes of the system and an assessment of the likely contribution of sexual conflict to change in sex determination systems. Our results show under what conditions network mutations causing differential regulation can lead to the reshaping of sex determination networks.Conclusion: The analysis demonstrates the complex relationship between mutation and outcome: the same mutation can produce many different evolved populations, while the same evolved population can be produced by many different mutations. Existing network structure alters the constraints and frequency of evolutionary changes, which include the recruitment of new regulators, changes in heterogamety, protected polymorphisms, and transitions to a new locus that controls sex determination.

Type: Article
Title: Differential regulation drives plasticity in sex determination gene networks
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1186/1471-2148-10-388
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-10-388
Language: English
Additional information: © 2010 MacCarthy et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Keywords: DETERMINING MECHANISMS, DETERMINATION PATHWAY, DROSOPHILA-MELANOGASTER, DIPTERAN INSECTS, EVOLUTION, SELECTION, LETHAL, SEGMENTATION, CHROMOSOMES, PIGMENTATION
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences > Genetics, Evolution and Environment
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/708226
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