Ahmed Zegher and Julianna Tourangeau

Abstract:

The development of a single celled fertilized egg into a fully formed multi-cellular adult is a fundamental part of all animal life cycles. This process involves a complex series of events that together ensure that the proper organs and structures are formed. In addition, most animals generate two morphologically distinct sexes. Therefore, sex determination pathways must provide sex-specific information to developmental genetic pathways to produce the appropriate sex-differences. The DM-domain transcription factors are a conserved player in sex-determination pathways in all animals. The Mason lab focuses on the role of two DM-domain transcription factors, MAB-3 and DMD-3, in generating sex differences in the model organism C. elegans. This summer we focused on characterizing the RNA-seq identified gene regulatory network that functions downstream of DMD-3 activity driving the male-specific morphogenesis of the male tail. To do this, we analyzed expression patterns and loss-of- function phenotypes for a subset of the ~600 genes identified as function downstream of dmd-3. In addition, we also more closely examined sex-differences in pharyngeal pumping rates that we previously observed between adult males and hermaphrodites.