Timing mechanism of sexually dimorphic nervous system differentiation
The molecular mechanisms that control the timing of sexual differentiation in the brain are poorly understood. We found that the timing of sexually dimorphic differentiation of postmitotic, sex-shared neurons in the nervous system of the Caenorhabditis elegans male is controlled by the temporally re...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
2019-01-01
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| Series: | eLife |
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| Online Access: | https://elifesciences.org/articles/42078 |
| _version_ | 1811202724813864960 |
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| author | Laura Pereira Florian Aeschimann Chen Wang Hannah Lawson Esther Serrano-Saiz Douglas S Portman Helge Großhans Oliver Hobert |
| author_facet | Laura Pereira Florian Aeschimann Chen Wang Hannah Lawson Esther Serrano-Saiz Douglas S Portman Helge Großhans Oliver Hobert |
| author_sort | Laura Pereira |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The molecular mechanisms that control the timing of sexual differentiation in the brain are poorly understood. We found that the timing of sexually dimorphic differentiation of postmitotic, sex-shared neurons in the nervous system of the Caenorhabditis elegans male is controlled by the temporally regulated miRNA let-7 and its target lin-41, a translational regulator. lin-41 acts through lin-29a, an isoform of a conserved Zn finger transcription factor, expressed in a subset of sex-shared neurons only in the male. Ectopic lin-29a is sufficient to impose male-specific features at earlier stages of development and in the opposite sex. The temporal, sexual and spatial specificity of lin-29a expression is controlled intersectionally through the lin-28/let-7/lin-41 heterochronic pathway, sex chromosome configuration and neuron-type-specific terminal selector transcription factors. Two Doublesex-like transcription factors represent additional sex- and neuron-type specific targets of LIN-41 and are regulated in a similar intersectional manner. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T02:43:08Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-929f0242bf344e869eeb6381273cd1af |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2050-084X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T02:43:08Z |
| publishDate | 2019-01-01 |
| publisher | eLife Sciences Publications Ltd |
| record_format | Article |
| series | eLife |
| spelling | doaj.art-929f0242bf344e869eeb6381273cd1af2022-12-22T03:51:15ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2019-01-01810.7554/eLife.42078Timing mechanism of sexually dimorphic nervous system differentiationLaura Pereira0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8239-3703Florian Aeschimann1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5213-034XChen Wang2Hannah Lawson3Esther Serrano-Saiz4Douglas S Portman5Helge Großhans6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8169-6905Oliver Hobert7https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7634-2854Department of Biological Sciences, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Columbia University, New York, United StatesFriedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Basel, Switzerland; University of Basel, Basel, SwitzerlandDepartment of Biological Sciences, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Columbia University, New York, United StatesDepartment of Biology, University of Rochester, Rochester, United StatesDepartment of Biological Sciences, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Columbia University, New York, United StatesDepartment of Biology, University of Rochester, Rochester, United States; DelMonte Institute for Neuroscience, Department of Biomedical Genetics, University of Rochester, New York, United StatesFriedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Basel, Switzerland; University of Basel, Basel, SwitzerlandDepartment of Biological Sciences, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Columbia University, New York, United StatesThe molecular mechanisms that control the timing of sexual differentiation in the brain are poorly understood. We found that the timing of sexually dimorphic differentiation of postmitotic, sex-shared neurons in the nervous system of the Caenorhabditis elegans male is controlled by the temporally regulated miRNA let-7 and its target lin-41, a translational regulator. lin-41 acts through lin-29a, an isoform of a conserved Zn finger transcription factor, expressed in a subset of sex-shared neurons only in the male. Ectopic lin-29a is sufficient to impose male-specific features at earlier stages of development and in the opposite sex. The temporal, sexual and spatial specificity of lin-29a expression is controlled intersectionally through the lin-28/let-7/lin-41 heterochronic pathway, sex chromosome configuration and neuron-type-specific terminal selector transcription factors. Two Doublesex-like transcription factors represent additional sex- and neuron-type specific targets of LIN-41 and are regulated in a similar intersectional manner.https://elifesciences.org/articles/42078geneticssexual differentiationgene regulation |
| spellingShingle | Laura Pereira Florian Aeschimann Chen Wang Hannah Lawson Esther Serrano-Saiz Douglas S Portman Helge Großhans Oliver Hobert Timing mechanism of sexually dimorphic nervous system differentiation eLife genetics sexual differentiation gene regulation |
| title | Timing mechanism of sexually dimorphic nervous system differentiation |
| title_full | Timing mechanism of sexually dimorphic nervous system differentiation |
| title_fullStr | Timing mechanism of sexually dimorphic nervous system differentiation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Timing mechanism of sexually dimorphic nervous system differentiation |
| title_short | Timing mechanism of sexually dimorphic nervous system differentiation |
| title_sort | timing mechanism of sexually dimorphic nervous system differentiation |
| topic | genetics sexual differentiation gene regulation |
| url | https://elifesciences.org/articles/42078 |
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