意大利那不勒斯大学Giuseppe Saccone、瑞士苏黎世大学Mark D. Robinson、意大利佩鲁贾大学Philippos Aris Papathanos等课题组合作研究发现，在大多数农作物害虫果蝇中Maleness-on-the-Y基因调控性别决定。这一成果将于9月27日发表于《科学》。

在农业害虫地中海实蝇（Ceratitis capitata）（地中海果蝇）中，研究人员鉴定了Y染色体连锁基因，Maleness-on the-Y (MoY)，其编码一个对于雄性发育必需的小蛋白质。在 XY型胚胎中MoY的沉默或破坏导致雌性化，然而在XX型胚胎中过表达MoY则导致雄性化。 改型的XY雌性和XX雄性杂交可以产生雄性和雌性后代，这表明Y染色体可以由XY雌性传播。在实蝇科的其他物种中， 与Y染色体连锁的MoY在功能上也是保守，突出了其作为针对这些主要农作物害虫研发更有效控制工具的潜力。

据了解在昆虫体内，通过控制保守的调控性别分化的模块来传导快速进化的性别决定信号。

附：英文原文

Title: Maleness-on-the-Y (MoY) orchestrates male sex determination in major agricultural fruit fly pests

Author: Angela Meccariello, Marco Salvemini, Pasquale Primo, Brantley Hall, Panagiota Koskinioti, Martina Dalíková, Andrea Gravina, Michela Anna Gucciardino, Federica Forlenza, Maria-Eleni Gregoriou, Domenica Ippolito, Simona Maria Monti, Valeria Petrella, Maryanna Martina Perrotta, Stephan Schmeing, Alessia Ruggiero, Francesca Scolari, Ennio Giordano, Konstantina T. Tsoumani, Frantiek Marec, Nikolai Windbichler, Kallare P. Arunkumar, Kostas Bourtzis, Kostas D. Mathiopoulos, Jiannis Ragoussis, Luigi Vitagliano, Zhijian Tu, Philippos Aris Papathanos, Mark D. Robinson, Giuseppe Saccone

Issue&Volume: 2019/09/27

Abstract: In insects, rapidly evolving primary sex-determining signals are transduced by a conserved regulatory module controlling sexual differentiation. In the agricultural pest Ceratitis capitata (Mediterranean fruit fly, Medfly) we identified a Y-linked gene, Maleness-on the-Y (MoY), encoding a small protein that is necessary and sufficient for male development. Silencing or disruption of MoY in XY embryos causes feminization whereas overexpression of MoY in XX embryos induces masculinization. Crosses between transformed XY females and XX males give rise to males and females, indicating that a Y chromosome can be transmitted by XY females. MoY is Y-linked and functionally conserved in other species of the Tephritidae family, highlighting its potential to serve as a tool for developing more effective control strategies against these major agricultural insect pests.

DOI: 10.1126/science.aax1318

Source:https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2019/08/28/science.aax1318