Figure 1.

Sex-determining cascades in the worm, insects and medaka fish. Molecular pathways leading to the formation of the gonad in Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila melanogaster, Apis mellifera and Oryzias latipes. Conserved doublesex/male abnormal 3/dsx and mab-3 related transcription factor 1 (dmrt1) or Drosophila transformer (tra)-like homologues are indicated with light-brown and light-blue boxes, respectively; duplicated factors in the cascades are also highlighted (brown and blue boxes, respectively). Note that tra of C. elegans is not related to tra of Drosophila. csd, complementary sex determiner; dmd3, doublesex/mab-3 domain family member 3; dsx, doublesex; fem, feminizer; her-1, hermaphroditization of XO-1; sdc, sex determination and dosage compensation defective; sx1, sex lethal; xol, XO lethal.