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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Jun 15.
Published in final edited form as: Arch Biochem Biophys. 2014 Oct 25;576:17–31. doi: 10.1016/j.abb.2014.10.008

Figure 3.

Figure 3

Sex-specific regulation of aging and oxidative stress in Drosophila, C. elegans and mammals. In females (X/X) the master regulatory gene (or “Switch-Gene”) for Dosage Compensation (DC) is in the “on” state: Sxl in Drosophila, sdc-2 in C. elegans, and Xist in mammals. In males (X/Y) these genes are in the “off” state. Chromosomal sex, the Switch-Gene on/off state, and DC regulate mitochondrial maintenance as follows: Sexual differentiation, in particular DC, is required for animal viability including mitochondrial maintenance during development. In the adult, sexual differentiation mediates trade-offs between growth and reproduction and long-term mitochondrial maintenance that leads to aging and oxidative stress (see also Figures 1, 2). Female sexual differentiation mediates the preferential transmission of the mitochondria to offspring. Maternal factors, including mitochondria, are provided to the egg from the mother and are required for viability and sexual differentiation. In C. elegans (X/X) is the hermaphrodite, and the Y chromosome is absent in males (genotype X/O).