comparative analysis of highly conserved sex-determining genes between Apis mellifera and Drosophila melanogaster

A comparison of the most conserved sex-determining genes between the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, and the honey bee, Apis mellifera, was performed with bioinformatics tools developed for computational molecular biology. An initial set of protein sequences already described in the fruit fly as...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Genetics and molecular research 2006-01, Vol.5 (1), p.154-168
Main Authors: Cristino, A.S, Nascimento, A.M. do, Costa, L. da F, Simoes, Z.L.P
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Apis mellifera
Bees - genetics
bioinformatics
complementary DNA
Computational Biology - methods
Conserved Sequence - genetics
DNA-binding proteins
DNA-Binding Proteins - genetics
Drosophila melanogaster
Drosophila melanogaster - genetics
Drosophila Proteins - genetics
Female
fruit flies
Genes, Insect - genetics
honey bees
Male
Metazoa
molecular cloning
Molecular Sequence Data
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Sequence Analysis, DNA - methods
sex determination
Sex Determination Processes
transcription factors
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A comparison of the most conserved sex-determining genes between the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, and the honey bee, Apis mellifera, was performed with bioinformatics tools developed for computational molecular biology. An initial set of protein sequences already described in the fruit fly as participants of the sex-determining cascade was retrieved from the Gene Ontology database (http://www.geneontology.org/) and aligned against a database of protein sequences predicted from the honey bee genome. The doublesex (dsx) gene is considered one of the most conserved sex-determining genes among metazoans, and a male-specific partial cDNA of putative A. mellifera dsx gene (Amdsx) was identified experimentally. The theoretical predictions were developed in the context of sequence similarity. Experimental evidence indicates that dsx is present in embryos and larvae, and that it encodes a transcription factor widely conserved in metazoans, containing a DM DNA-binding domain implicated in the regulation of the expression of genes involved in sexual phenotype formation.
ISSN:1676-5680
1676-5680