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Sex lethal controls dosage compensation in Drosophila by a non-splicing mechanism

Nature volume 387, pages 195–199 (1997)Cite this article

Abstract

Dosage compensation in Drosophila requires the male-specific lethal (msl) proteins (MSL) to make gene expression from the single male X chromosome equivalent to that from both female X chromosomes1,2. Expression of msl 2 is repressed post-transcrip-tionally by Sex lethal (SXL), a female-specific RNA-binding protein that regulates alternative splicing in the sex-determination hierarchy. Although msl2 RNA is alternatively spliced in males and females, this does not alter its coding potential and splicing is not required for male-specific expression of MSL2 protein. Instead, our results suggest that the association of SXL protein with multiple sites in the 5′ and 3′ untranslated regions of the mx12 transcript represses its translation in females. Thus, this well characterized alternative splicing factor regulates at least one target transcript by a distinct mechanism.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cell Biology and the, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, Texas, 77030, USA

    Richard L. Kelley & Mitzi I. Kuroda

  2. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, Texas, 77030, USA

    Mitzi I. Kuroda

  3. Molecular Biology Program, University of Southern California, 835 West 37th Street, Los Angeles, California, 90089-1340, USA

    Jiwu Wang & Leslie Bell

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  1. Richard L. Kelley
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Kelley, R., Wang, J., Bell, L. et al. Sex lethal controls dosage compensation in Drosophila by a non-splicing mechanism. Nature 387, 195–199 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/387195a0

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