DSSS - Sex, wing spot, and interchromosomal gene regulation

Most animal species are decorated with coloration patterns that can give them very different appearances on otherwise similar body shapes. These coloration patterns are good models for studying how morphological patterns form during development, how they can differ between the sexes, and how they change between species. We are studying the evolution of a particular male-specific wing pigmentation pattern that has appeared in several Drosophila species. We are focusing our attention on the regulation of the pigmentation gene yellow, whose expression pattern in the wing differs between the sexes, and predicts exactly where the pigmentation motifs will form. By studying the regulation of yellow, a gene linked to the X chromosome, we have recently uncovered the role of interallelic regulation (a regulatory mechanism also known as transvection) in shaping its sex-specific expression.