SEX DETERMINATION. A male-determining factor in the mosquito Aedes aegypti. Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Sex determination in the mosquito Aedes aegypti is governed by a dominant male-determining factor (M factor) located within a Y chromosome-like region called the M locus. Here, we show that an M-locus gene, Nix, functions as an M factor in A. aegypti. Nix exhibits persistent M linkage and early embryonic expression, two characteristics required of an M factor. Nix knockout with clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-Cas9 resulted in largely feminized genetic males and the production of female isoforms of two key regulators of sexual differentiation: doublesex and fruitless. Ectopic expression of Nix resulted in genetic females with nearly complete male genitalia. Thus, Nix is both required and sufficient to initiate male development. This study provides a foundation for mosquito control strategies that convert female mosquitoes into harmless males.

published proceedings

  • Science

altmetric score

  • 331.628

author list (cited authors)

  • Hall, A. B., Basu, S., Jiang, X., Qi, Y., Timoshevskiy, V. A., Biedler, J. K., ... Tu, Z.

citation count

  • 263

complete list of authors

  • Hall, Andrew Brantley||Basu, Sanjay||Jiang, Xiaofang||Qi, Yumin||Timoshevskiy, Vladimir A||Biedler, James K||Sharakhova, Maria V||Elahi, Rubayet||Anderson, Michelle AE||Chen, Xiao-Guang||Sharakhov, Igor V||Adelman, Zach N||Tu, Zhijian

publication date

  • June 2015