Sex-specific DoublesexM expression in subsets of Drosophila somatic gonad cells.

BACKGROUND: In Drosophila melanogaster, a pre-mRNA splicing hierarchy controls sexual identity and ultimately leads to sex-specific Doublesex (DSX) transcription factor isoforms. The male-specific DSXM represses genes involved in female development and activates genes involved in male development. Spatial and temporal control of dsx during embryogenesis is not well documented. RESULTS: Here we show that DSX(M) is specifically expressed in subsets of male somatic gonad cells during embryogenesis. Following testis formation, germ cells remain in contact with DSX(M)-expressing cells, including hub cells and premeiotic somatic cyst cells that surround germ cells during spermatogenesis in larval and adult testes. CONCLUSION: We show that dsx is transcriptionally regulated in addition to being regulated at the pre-mRNA splicing level by the sex determination hierarchy. The dsx locus is spatially controlled by somatic gonad identity. The continuous expression of DSX(M) in cells contacting the germline suggests an ongoing short-range influence of the somatic sex determination pathway on germ cell development.

A non-parametric peak calling algorithm for DamID-Seq.

Protein-DNA interactions play a significant role in gene regulation and expression. In order to identify transcription factor binding sites (TFBS) of double sex (DSX)-an important transcription factor in sex determination, we applied the DNA adenine methylation identification (DamID) technology to the fat body tissue of Drosophila, followed by deep sequencing (DamID-Seq). One feature of DamID-Seq data is that induced adenine methylation signals are not assured to be symmetrically distributed at TFBS, which renders the existing peak calling algorithms for ChIP-Seq, including SPP and MACS, inappropriate for DamID-Seq data. This challenged us to develop a new algorithm for peak calling. A challenge in peaking calling based on sequence data is estimating the averaged behavior of background signals. We applied a bootstrap resampling method to short sequence reads in the control (Dam only). After data quality check and mapping reads to a reference genome, the peaking calling procedure compromises the following steps: 1) reads resampling; 2) reads scaling (normalization) and computing signal-to-noise fold changes; 3) filtering; 4) Calling peaks based on a statistically significant threshold. This is a non-parametric method for peak calling (NPPC). We also used irreproducible discovery rate (IDR) analysis, as well as ChIP-Seq data to compare the peaks called by the NPPC. We identified approximately 6,000 peaks for DSX, which point to 1,225 genes related to the fat body tissue difference between female and male Drosophila. Statistical evidence from IDR analysis indicated that these peaks are reproducible across biological replicates. In addition, these peaks are comparable to those identified by use of ChIP-Seq on S2 cells, in terms of peak number, location, and peaks width.

Sex- and tissue-specific functions of Drosophila doublesex transcription factor target genes.

Primary sex-determination "switches" evolve rapidly, but Doublesex (DSX)-related transcription factors (DMRTs) act downstream of these switches to control sexual development in most animal species. Drosophila dsx encodes female- and male-specific isoforms (DSX(F) and DSX(M)), but little is known about how dsx controls sexual development, whether DSX(F) and DSX(M) bind different targets, or how DSX proteins direct different outcomes in diverse tissues. We undertook genome-wide analyses to identify DSX targets using in vivo occupancy, binding site prediction, and evolutionary conservation. We find that DSX(F) and DSX(M) bind thousands of the same targets in multiple tissues in both sexes, yet these targets have sex- and tissue-specific functions. Interestingly, DSX targets show considerable overlap with targets identified for mouse DMRT1. DSX targets include transcription factors and signaling pathway components providing for direct and indirect regulation of sex-biased expression.

Drosophila germline sex determination: integration of germline autonomous cues and somatic signals.

The Drosophila testis and ovary are major genetically tractable systems for studying stem cells and their regulation. This has resulted in a deep understanding of germline stem cell regulation by the microenvironment, or niche. The male and female germline niches differ. Since sex is determined through different mechanisms in the soma than in the germline, genetic or physical manipulations can be used to experimentally mismatch somatic and germline sexual identities. The phenotypic consequences of these mismatches have striking similarities to those resulting from manipulations of signals within the niche. A critical role of the germline sex determination pathway may therefore be to ensure the proper receipt and processing of signals from the niche.

In Drosophila, don juan and don juan like encode proteins of the spermatid nucleus and the flagellum and both are regulated at the transcriptional level by the TAF II80 cannonball while translational repression is achieved by distinct elements.

The genes don juan (dj) and don juan like (djl) encode basic proteins expressed in the male germline. Both proteins show a similar expression pattern being localized in the sperm heads during chromatin condensation and along the flagella. Prematurely expressed Don Juan-eGFP and Myc-Don Juan Like localize to the cytoplasm of spermatocytes and in mitochondrial derivatives from the nebenkern stage onward suggesting that both proteins associate with the mitochondria along the flagella in elongated spermatids. Premature expression of Myc-Don Juan Like does not impair spermatogenesis where-as Don Juan-eGFP when prematurely expressed causes male sterility as spermatids fail to individualize. In spite of the sequence identity of 72% on the nucleotide level and 42% on the protein level, the presumptive promoter regions and the untranslated regions of the mRNA are diverged. Our in vivo analysis revealed that don juan and don juan like are transcriptionally and translationally controlled by distinct short cis regulatory regions. Transcription of don juan and don juan like depends on the male germ line specific TAF(II)80, Cannonball (Can). Translational repression elements for both mRNAs are localized in the 5' UTR and are capable to form distinct secondary structures in close proximity to the translational initiation codon.