Skip to main content
PMC home page
Genetics logoLink to Genetics
. 2003 Jan;163(1):245–251. doi: 10.1093/genetics/163.1.245

Common spontaneous sex-reversed XX males of the medaka Oryzias latipes.

Indrajit Nanda 1, Ute Hornung 1, Mariko Kondo 1, Michael Schmid 1, Manfred Schartl 1
PMCID: PMC1462404  PMID: 12586712

Abstract

In the medaka, a duplicated version of the dmrt1 gene, dmrt1bY, has been identified as a candidate for the master male sex-determining gene on the Y chromosome. By screening several strains of Northern and Southern medaka we identified a considerable number of males with normal phenotype and uncompromised fertility, but lacking dmrt1bY. The frequency of such males was >10% in some strains and zero in others. Analysis for the presence of other Y-linked markers by FISH analysis, PCR, and phenotype indicated that their genotype is XX. Crossing such males with XX females led to a strong female bias in the offspring and also to a reappearance of XX males in the following generations. This indicated that the candidate male sex-determining gene dmrt1bY may not be necessary for male development in every case, but that its function can be taken over by so far unidentified autosomal modifiers.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (152.9 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Aida T. On the Inheritance of Color in a Fresh-Water Fish, APLOCHEILUS LATIPES Temmick and Schlegel, with Special Reference to Sex-Linked Inheritance. Genetics. 1921 Nov;6(6):554–573. doi: 10.1093/genetics/6.6.554. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Aida T. Sex Reversal in Aplocheilus Latipes and a New Explanation of Sex Differentiation. Genetics. 1936 Mar;21(2):136–153. doi: 10.1093/genetics/21.2.136. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Altschmied J., Hornung U., Schlupp I., Gadau J., Kolb R., Schartl M. Isolation of DNA suitable for PCR for field and laboratory work. Biotechniques. 1997 Aug;23(2):228–229. doi: 10.2144/97232bm10. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Charlesworth B., Charlesworth D. The degeneration of Y chromosomes. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2000 Nov 29;355(1403):1563–1572. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2000.0717. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Charlesworth B. The evolution of sex chromosomes. Science. 1991 Mar 1;251(4997):1030–1033. doi: 10.1126/science.1998119. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. De Grandi A., Calvari V., Bertini V., Bulfone A., Peverali G., Camerino G., Borsani G., Guioli S. The expression pattern of a mouse doublesex-related gene is consistent with a role in gonadal differentiation. Mech Dev. 2000 Feb;90(2):323–326. doi: 10.1016/s0925-4773(99)00282-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Gutbrod H., Schartl M. Intragenic sex-chromosomal crossovers of Xmrk oncogene alleles affect pigment pattern formation and the severity of melanoma in Xiphophorus. Genetics. 1999 Feb;151(2):773–783. doi: 10.1093/genetics/151.2.773. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Just W., Rau W., Vogel W., Akhverdian M., Fredga K., Graves J. A., Lyapunova E. Absence of Sry in species of the vole Ellobius. Nat Genet. 1995 Oct;11(2):117–118. doi: 10.1038/ng1095-117. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Kettlewell J. R., Raymond C. S., Zarkower D. Temperature-dependent expression of turtle Dmrt1 prior to sexual differentiation. Genesis. 2000 Mar;26(3):174–178. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Kondo M., Nagao E., Mitani H., Shima A. Differences in recombination frequencies during female and male meioses of the sex chromosomes of the medaka, Oryzias latipes. Genet Res. 2001 Aug;78(1):23–30. doi: 10.1017/s0016672301005109. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Matsuda Masaru, Nagahama Yoshitaka, Shinomiya Ai, Sato Tadashi, Matsuda Chika, Kobayashi Tohru, Morrey Craig E., Shibata Naoki, Asakawa Shuichi, Shimizu Nobuyoshi. DMY is a Y-specific DM-domain gene required for male development in the medaka fish. Nature. 2002 May 12;417(6888):559–563. doi: 10.1038/nature751. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Moniot B., Berta P., Scherer G., Südbeck P., Poulat F. Male specific expression suggests role of DMRT1 in human sex determination. Mech Dev. 2000 Mar 1;91(1-2):323–325. doi: 10.1016/s0925-4773(99)00267-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Morizot D. C., Slaugenhaupt S. A., Kallman K. D., Chakravarti A. Genetic linkage map of fishes of the genus Xiphophorus (Teleostei: Poeciliidae). Genetics. 1991 Feb;127(2):399–410. doi: 10.1093/genetics/127.2.399. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Nanda Indrajit, Kondo Mariko, Hornung Ute, Asakawa Shuichi, Winkler Christoph, Shimizu Atsushi, Shan Zhihong, Haaf Thomas, Shimizu Nobuyoshi, Shima Akihiro. A duplicated copy of DMRT1 in the sex-determining region of the Y chromosome of the medaka, Oryzias latipes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002 Aug 22;99(18):11778–11783. doi: 10.1073/pnas.182314699. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Raymond C. S., Kettlewell J. R., Hirsch B., Bardwell V. J., Zarkower D. Expression of Dmrt1 in the genital ridge of mouse and chicken embryos suggests a role in vertebrate sexual development. Dev Biol. 1999 Nov 15;215(2):208–220. doi: 10.1006/dbio.1999.9461. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Raymond C. S., Murphy M. W., O'Sullivan M. G., Bardwell V. J., Zarkower D. Dmrt1, a gene related to worm and fly sexual regulators, is required for mammalian testis differentiation. Genes Dev. 2000 Oct 15;14(20):2587–2595. doi: 10.1101/gad.834100. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Smith C. A., McClive P. J., Western P. S., Reed K. J., Sinclair A. H. Conservation of a sex-determining gene. Nature. 1999 Dec 9;402(6762):601–602. doi: 10.1038/45130. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Wada H., Shimada A., Fukamachi S., Naruse K., Shima A. Sex-Linked Inheritance of the lf Locus in the Medaka Fish (Oryzias latipes). Zoolog Sci. 1998 Jan 1;15(1):123–126. doi: 10.2108/zsj.15.123. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Yamamoto T O. Progeny of Artificially Induced Sex-Reversals of Male Genotype (Xy) in the Medaka (Oryzias Latipes) with Special Reference to Yy-Male. Genetics. 1955 May;40(3):406–419. doi: 10.1093/genetics/40.3.406. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Genetics are provided here courtesy of Oxford University Press

RESOURCES