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Updated: Jun 19, 2026

Measuring and Altering Mating Drive in Male Drosophila melanogaster
Published on: February 15, 2017
Genetic and molecular insights into the development and evolution of sexual dimorphism
Thomas M Williams1, Sean B Carroll
1Department of Biology, University of Dayton, 300 College Park, Dayton, Ohio 45469, USA.
Abstract:
Sexual dimorphism is common throughout the animal kingdom. However, a molecular understanding of how sex-specific traits develop and evolve has been elusive. Recently, substantial progress has been made in elucidating how diverse sex-determination systems are integrated into developmental gene networks. One common theme from these studies is that sex-limited traits and gene expression are produced by the combined action of transcriptional effectors of sex-determination pathways and other transcription factors on target gene cis-regulatory elements. Sex-specific traits evolve by the gain, loss or modification of linkages in the genetic networks regulated by sex-determination transcription factors.
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