Authors
Clare E Holleley, Denis O'Meally, Stephen D Sarre, Jennifer A Marshall Graves, Tariq Ezaz, Kazumi Matsubara, Bhumika Azad, Xiuwen Zhang, Arthur Georges
Publication date
2015/7/2
Journal
Nature
Volume
523
Issue
7558
Pages
79-82
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group UK
Description
Sex determination in animals is amazingly plastic. Vertebrates display contrasting strategies ranging from complete genetic control of sex (genotypic sex determination) to environmentally determined sex (for example, temperature-dependent sex determination). Phylogenetic analyses suggest frequent evolutionary transitions between genotypic and temperature-dependent sex determination in environmentally sensitive lineages, including reptiles. These transitions are thought to involve a genotypic system becoming sensitive to temperature, with sex determined by gene–environment interactions. Most mechanistic models of transitions invoke a role for sex reversal,,. Sex reversal has not yet been demonstrated in nature for any amniote, although it occurs in fish and rarely in amphibians,. Here we make the first report of reptile sex reversal in the wild, in the Australian bearded dragon (Pogona vitticeps), and use sex …
Scholar articles
CE Holleley, D O'Meally, SD Sarre, JA Marshall Graves… - Nature, 2015