Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Exposing the secrets of sex determination

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology volume 22, pages 437–438 (2015)Cite this article

Subjects

Sex-determining transcription factors recognize their genomic target sites through mechanisms of DNA base-and-shape readout in combination with cooperative binding. Murphy et al. reveal that for one such transcription factor, DMRT1, the DNA sequence-and-shape features of its binding sites determine whether it binds DNA as a dimer, trimer or tetramer; they also characterize protein-DNA contacts that affect gender phenotypes in flies and humans.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Cocrystal structure of the quaternary DMRT1–DNA complex.
Figure 2: Biophysics of minor-groove contacts in the DMRT1-DNA cocrystal structure.
Figure 3: Schematic representation of DMRT1-DNA binding stoichiometry in the genome.

References

  1. Raymond, C.S., Murphy, M.W., O'Sullivan, M.G., Bardwell, V.J. & Zarkower, D. Genes Dev. 14, 2587–2595 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Murphy, M.W. et al. Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol. 22, 442–451 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Zhu, L. et al. Genes Dev. 14, 1750–1764 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Seeman, N.C., Rosenberg, J.M. & Rich, A. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 73, 804–808 (1976).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Rohs, R. et al. Nature 461, 1248–1253 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Abe, N. et al. Cell 161, 307–318 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Kitayner, M. et al. Mol. Cell 22, 741–753 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Panne, D., Maniatis, T. & Harrison, S.C. Cell 129, 1111–1123 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Rhee, H.S. & Pugh, B.F. Cell 147, 1408–1419 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Gordân, R. et al. Cell Reports 3, 1093–1104 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Levo, M. et al. Genome Res. 10.1101/gr.185033.114 (11 March 2015).

  12. He, Q., Johnston, J. & Zeitlinger, J. Nat. Biotechnol. 33, 395–401 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Stormo, G.D. Quant. Biol. 1, 115–130 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Zhou, T. et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 112, 4654–4659 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Slattery, M. et al. Trends Biochem. Sci. 39, 381–399 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grant GM106056 from the US National Institutes of Health (to R.R.).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Remo Rohs, Ana Carolina Dantas Machado and Lin Yang are at the Molecular and Computational Biology Program, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.,

    Remo Rohs, Ana Carolina Dantas Machado & Lin Yang

Authors
  1. Remo Rohs
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ana Carolina Dantas Machado
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Lin Yang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Remo Rohs.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Rohs, R., Machado, A. & Yang, L. Exposing the secrets of sex determination. Nat Struct Mol Biol 22, 437–438 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nsmb.3042

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nsmb.3042

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing