Proportion of males and females in the hands of genes

2007/12/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Anatomia/Fisiologia

In most species with sexual reproduction, the proportion of individuals is the same as that of females. However, in some populations of the Drosophila melanogaster fly, females are much more abundant. The Emory University of Atlanta has found that this difference in proportion depends on two genes of Drosophila, Dox and Nmy.

Scientists compared the genomes of males of two population types and saw that males who produce more females have a gene that others did not have: Dox gene. The Dox gene produces sperm that will give females and somehow destroy sperm that men donate.

The same group observed in another experiment that the Nmy gene eliminates the influence of the Dox gene: Male flies with Dox and Nmy genes produce sperm of both sexes in the same proportion, but the proportion of females in sperm of those who do not have the Nmy gene is higher.