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Updated: Jun 25, 2025

Induction and Evaluation of Inbreeding Crosses Using the Ant, Vollenhovia Emeryi
Published on: October 5, 2018
LncRNA gene ANTSR coordinates complementary sex determination in the Argentine ant
Qiaowei Pan1, Hugo Darras2, Laurent Keller3
1Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Abstract:
Animals have evolved various sex determination systems. Here, we describe a newly found mechanism. A long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) transduces complementary sex determination (CSD) signal in the invasive Argentine ant. In this haplodiploid species, we identified a 5-kilobase hyper-polymorphic region underlying CSD: Heterozygous embryos become females, while homozygous and hemizygous embryos become males. Heterozygosity at the CSD locus correlates with higher expression of ANTSR, a gene that overlaps with the CSD locus and specifies an lncRNA transcript. ANTSR knockdown in CSD heterozygotes leads to male development. Comparative analyses indicated that, in Hymenoptera, ANTSR is an ancient yet rapidly evolving gene. This study reveals an lncRNA involved in genetic sex determination, alongside a previously unknown regulatory mechanism underlying sex determination based on complementarity among noncoding alleles.
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