The adaptive significance of temperature-dependent sex determination in a reptile

Understanding the mechanisms that determine an individual's sex remains a primary challenge for evolutionary biology. Chromosome-based systems (genotypic sex determination) that generate roughly equal numbers of sons and daughters accord with theory, but the adaptive significance of environmental sex determination (that is, when embryonic environmental conditions determine offspring sex, ESD) is a major unsolved problem. Theoretical models predict that selection should favour ESD over genotypic sex determination when the developmental environment differentially influences male versus female fitness (that is, the Charnov-Bull model), but empirical evidence for this hypothesis remains elusive in amniote vertebrates--the clade in which ESD is most prevalent. Here we provide the first substantial empirical support for this model by showing that incubation temperatures influence reproductive success of males differently than that of females in a short-lived lizard (Amphibolurus muricatus, Agamidae) with temperature-dependent sex determination. We incubated eggs at a variety of temperatures, and de-confounded sex and incubation temperature by using hormonal manipulations to embryos. We then raised lizards in field enclosures and quantified their lifetime reproductive success. Incubation temperature affected reproductive success differently in males versus females in exactly the way predicted by theory: the fitness of each sex was maximized by the incubation temperature that produces that sex. Our results provide unequivocal empirical support for the Charnov-Bull model for the adaptive significance of temperature-dependent sex determination in amniote vertebrates.     

Adaptive variation in environmental and genetic sex determination in a fish

Two general mechanisms of sex determination have been identified among gonochoristic vertebrates: environmental sex determination where offspring become male or female in response to an environmental factor(s) during development (for example, some fishes and reptiles); and genetic sex determination where sex is determined by genotype at conception (as in birds and mammals). How do these sex-determining systems evolve? Direct evidence is virtually non-existent because the sex-determining systems of most species appear to have little genetic variation. Here we provide the first evidence of adaptive variation in environmental and genetic sex determination within a species. We show that in a fish with temperature-dependent sex determination, populations at different latitudes compensate for differences in thermal environment and seasonality by adjusting the response of sex ratio to temperature, and by altering the level of environmental as opposed to genetic control. The adjustments observed are precisely those predicted by adaptive sex ratio theory.     

Sex determination. Viviparous lizard selects sex of embryos

No one suspected that temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD), whereby the sex of embryos depends on the temperature at which they develop, might occur in viviparous (live-bearing) reptiles, because thermoregulation in the mother results in relatively stable, raised gestation temperatures. But here we show that developing embryos of the actively thermoregulating viviparous skink Eulamprus tympanum are subject to TSD, offering the mother the chance to select the sex of her offspring and a mechanism to help to balance sex ratios in wild populations.     

Cyp19a1基因在鱼类性别分化和发育中的研究进展

鱼类是人类获得优质动物蛋白的重要途径,蛋白的高效产出是水产研究领域的热点.许多鱼类存在性别异形的特点,因此,培育生长快、个体大的单性群体是增加产量的方式.单性群体的培育工作已在部分鱼类中完成,但鱼类的性别化机制复杂,受遗传、环境等因素影响.鱼类芳香化酶(Cyp19a)可将雄激素转化为雌激素,是鱼类卵巢分化和发育的关键因素.Cyp19a1基因在发挥功能时,不仅受到相关转录调控因子的影响,也与外界环境因素(如温度、pH值、盐度、湿度、光照等)有关.随着分子生物学技术的发展,水产动物性别分化机制日益深入,Cyp19a1在性腺发育过程中的调控机制也愈发明确.通过综述水产动物中的Cyp19a1基因的研究进展,为鱼类性别分化与性别发育机制的探索提供参考.     

The optimal sex ratio in cooperatively breeding populations

In some cooperatively breeding species, elder siblings remain within their home ranges to assist their parents in raising their younger siblings by providing protection or food. Previous attempts to model the popu- lation sex ratios of such species have assumed that helping is cost-free and only involves benefits to parents, resulting in offspring sex ratio biases towards the helping sex. However, parents may also incur costs in maintaining helpers. We incorporated costs and benefits of helping to predict the sex ratio of offspring in a theoretical model. Our model showed that the evolutionary stable strategy （ESS） sex ratio strongly depends on three parameters： （1） the average number of helpers per female; （2） the benefits that a helper brings to its mother＇s offspring production （MOP）; and （3） the cost-benefit ratio of helping. When one sex of elder siblings provides help, the ESS sex ratio is biased towards the helping sex if MOP costs are less than the benefits, （i.e., the cost-benefit ratio 〈1）. However, the ESS sex ratio becomes biased towards the non-helping sex if MOP costs exceed the benefits （i.e., the cost-benefit ratio 〉1）. Additionally, our model shows that the ESS sex ratio becomes biased in favor of the more helpful sex when both male and female elder siblings provide help. These results explain why sex ratios may become biased towards the helping sex, as well as the non-helping sex, in some species.     

Male sexual differentiation in mice lacking H-Y antigen

The sexual phenotype of an adult mammal depends on whether the fetal gonad has differentiated as a testis or as an ovary. Because individuals of XY or XXY sex chromosome constitution develop as males, while XX and XO individuals develop as females, the presence of a Y chromosome seems normally to be required for testis differentiation and its absence to be necessary for differentiation of an ovary. The nature of the hypothetical Y-dependent substance responsible for masculinization of the indifferent gonad has been a matter for debate. A male-specific transplantation antigen, H-Y, has been known for many years and more recently a serologically detected antigen, also male-specific, has been reported. Those who believe that the two are antigenically distinct refer to the latter as SDM (serologically detected male) antigen, but many refer to both as H-Y antigen. The hypothesis that H-Y is itself the Y-dependent testis inducer, although supported by little or no direct evidence, is economical and hence attractive. H-Y antigen is frequently stated to be the substance responsible for primary sex determination (for example, see ref. 11). We report here that H-Y is absent from certain mice that develop testes and are of indisputably male phenotype, hence this transplantation antigen is unlikely to be responsible for testis determination.     

Mammalian sex ratios and variation in costs of rearing sons and daughters

In red deer, the sex ratio of calves at birth (calculated as the proportion of calves born that are male) increases with the dominance rank of the mother, whereas opposite trends exist in several populations of macaques and baboons. Here we show that the subsequent survival and reproductive success of subordinate female red deer is depressed more by rearing sons than by rearing daughters, whereas the subsequent fitness of dominant females is unaffected by the sex of their present offspring. By contrast, among subordinate female macaques, the rearing of daughters has greater costs to the mother's subsequent fitness than does the rearing of sons, although again, no difference in the costs of rearing sons and daughters is found among dominant mothers. These findings indicate that both differences in the relative fitness of sons and daughters and differences in the relative costs of rearing male and female offspring can favour variation in the sex ratio.     

Genetic evidence equating SRY and the testis-determining factor

The testis-determining factor gene (TDF) lies on the Y chromosome and is responsible for initiating male sex determination. SRY is a gene located in the sex-determining region of the human and mouse Y chromosomes and has many of the properties expected for TDF. Sex reversal in XY females results from the failure of the testis determination or differentiation pathways. Some XY females, with gonadal dysgenesis, have lost the sex-determining region from the Y chromosome by terminal exchange between the sex chromosomes or by other deletions. If SRY is TDF, it would be predicted that some sex-reversed XY females, without Y chromosome deletions, will have suffered mutations in SRY. We have tested human XY females and normal XY males for alterations in SRY using the single-strand conformation polymorphism assay and subsequent DNA sequencing. A de novo mutation was found in the SRY gene of one XY female: this mutation was not present in the patient's normal father and brother. A second variant was found in the SRY gene of another XY female, but in this case the normal father shared the same alteration. The variant in the second case may be fortuitously associated with, or predisposing towards sex reversal; the de novo mutation associated with sex reversal provides compelling evidence that SRY is required for male sex determination.     

太行山猕猴下颌骨、颅骨和髋骨变量的性别判别分析

本对25例（♂9，♀16）成年太行山猕猴下颌骨的17项变量，24例（♂8，♀16）颅骨的20项变量和22例（♂11，♀11）髋骨的21项变量进行了测量，采用SPSS for windows 10.0的多变量差别分析方法对有关变量建立性别判别函数式。结果表明，采用逐步判别法，髋骨变量 性别判别分析时所用变量最少，髋骨，下颌骨和颅骨变量，差别率分别 为95.50%,88.00%和79．20％。     

从波伏娃的《第二性》谈女权主义

法国杰出的女权作家西蒙娜·德·波伏娃所著的《第二性》出版于1949年,它对当代世界女权主义运动产生了深远影响。女性,作为相对于男性的一种性别,以及担当孕育生命使命的一种生物体,长期以来自觉或不自觉地处于社会的劣势地位。现代女性要想摆脱次于男性的"第二性"的偏见,必须要能够作为真正意义上的"人"进行独立、自由的思考和行动,并最终与男性一起构建和谐、平等的发展空间。     

南京地区簸箕柳雌、雄花序建成动态观察

【目的】 柳树雌株性成熟后会产生严重的飞絮污染,阐明其性别分化的分子机制是控制飞絮污染的关键。研究柳树雌、雄花芽分化以及花序建成的关键时期,为性别分化分子调控机理研究奠定基础。【方法】 以木本植物簸箕柳(Salix suchowensis)雌株和雄株花芽及花序为材料,从当年6月至翌年2月分别在17个时间点采集样品,利用石蜡切片技术对其雌、雄花芽分化及花序建成过程进行观察,分析不同发育阶段的相关特征。【结果】 簸箕柳花序建成初期为6月中旬至7月初,小花原基分化期在7月中旬至8月下旬,雌、雄蕊分化期在9月上旬至11月初,11月中旬至翌年2月初雌雄花序进入休眠期,翌年2月中旬至3月为大小孢子发生及雌雄配子体发育期,随后雌雄花序开放。研究表明,花序外观形态变化与内部解剖结构变化之间具有一定的相关性。【结论】 簸箕柳雌、雄花均为单性花。花序生长趋势总体呈“S”形上升趋势,在整个发育过程中,雄花序比雌花序外形稍大。簸箕柳花序外观形态可以用于判断花发育的关键时期。研究结果为全面了解簸箕柳花芽分化以及花序建成的完整过程提供了详细信息,为进一步阐明不同关键发育阶段的分子调控机制奠定了基础。     

Testis determination requires insulin receptor family function in mice

In mice, gonads are formed shortly before embryonic day 10.5 by the thickening of the mesonephros and consist of somatic cells and migratory primordial germ cells. The male sex-determining process is set in motion by the sex-determining region of the Y chromosome (Sry), which triggers differentiation of the Sertoli cell lineage. In turn, Sertoli cells function as organizing centres and direct differentiation of the testis. In the absence of Sry expression, neither XX nor XY gonads develop testes, and alterations in Sry expression are often associated with abnormal sexual differentiation. The molecular signalling mechanisms by which Sry specifies the male pathway and models the undifferentiated gonad are unknown. Here we show that the insulin receptor tyrosine kinase family, comprising Ir, Igf1r and Irr, is required for the appearance of male gonads and thus for male sexual differentiation. XY mice that are mutant for all three receptors develop ovaries and show a completely female phenotype. Reduced expression of both Sry and the early testis-specific marker Sox9 indicates that the insulin signalling pathway is required for male sex determination.     

南京地区美洲黑杨雌、雄花芽分化的解剖学研究

【目的】研究多年生木本植物花芽分化进程和特点,揭示树木成花分子调控机制。【方法】分别以南京地区成年美洲黑杨(Populus deltoides)雌株和雄株为材料,详细记录其花芽发育的完整过程,并采用石蜡切片技术对雌、雄花芽发育各阶段进行解剖观察。【结果】在南京地区,每年5月底至6月初成年美洲黑杨的当年花枝上形成肉眼可见的花芽。随后的花芽分化过程可以分为5个阶段:苞片分化期(6月中旬之前)、小花原基起始期(6月中旬至7月中旬)、雌蕊/雄蕊分化期(7月中旬至11月)、休眠期(12月至翌年1月)和雌/雄配子体形成期(翌年2—3月),最终在早春形成单性花。【结论】美洲黑杨雌、雄花均为Ⅱ型单性花,即某一性别花中不存在相反性别花器官的残留。在整个花芽发育过程中,雄花芽较雌花芽大而饱满,雌、雄花芽鳞片外观嫩绿、质地坚硬,花芽长度生长趋势呈“S”形曲线。研究结果可为进一步深入研究杨树花器官发育及性别分化的分子机制提供必要的前提和基础。     

雌雄构树过氧化物同工酶的比较研究

通过对成林及未知性别的幼株过氧化物同工酶谱的分析表明，酶谱从阴极到阳极均可分为３个区．成株雌雄株间的性别差异明显而稳定地反映在Ｂ区和Ｃ区；未知性别的幼株分为Ｃ区具有谱带和不具谱带两种酶谱类型，且与成株的酶谱有密切的相关性．可以认为，过氧化物同工酶可以作为构树早期性别鉴定的指标，用于幼株的早期性别鉴定．酶活性在性别间也有不同，表现为雌株高于雄株，与酶带数量及强度基本一致．     

硬骨鱼类性别决定与分化相关基因研究进展

鱼类是脊椎动物中最低等但分布最广、种类最多的一类生物.与高等脊椎动物不同,鱼类的性别决定除了受遗传因素的影响,外界环境(激素水平、温度、盐度、氧气等)和自身内分泌调节也发挥了重要作用,因而其性别决定与分化机制极其复杂.尽管如此,遗传因素仍然是鱼类性别决定与分化的关键因素.本文通过对影响硬骨鱼类性别决定及分化的遗传因素(包括sox,dmrt1,amh,gsdf,cyp19a1a,foxl2等性别决定及分化相关基因和Rspo1/Wnt/β-catenin信号通路)的研究动态与进展进行综述,为更深入的探索鱼类性别决定与分化机制提供参考.     

布氏田鼠适应性产热的性别差异

不同季节的不同光周期、褪黑激素和温度对布氏四鼠的体重、体温、以及RMR和NST均有不同程度的影响,除体温外,均有明显的性别差异,说明雌雄动物适应性产热能力和产热调控机制存在着差异。