TY  - JOUR
TI  - Effect of RNAi-mediated knockdown of the <I>Bombyx mori transformer-2</I> gene on the sex-specific splicing of <I>Bmdsx</I> pre-mRNA
AU  - Suzuki, MasatakaG.
AU  - Suzuki, Keiji
AU  - Aoki, Fugaku
AU  - Ajimura, Masahiro
T2  - The International Journal of Developmental Biology
AB  - In Drosophila melanogaster, transformer-2 (tra-2) is essential for female differentiation and is known to induce female-specific splicing of doublesex (dsx). The function of Bmtra-2, the Bombyx mori homolog of tra-2, on the other hand remains to be elucidated. As an initial step to learn about the biological function of Bmtra-2, we determined whether Bmtra-2 is capable of inducing the female-specific splicing of Drosophila dsx. RNAi-mediated knockdown of Bmtra-2 using Bombyx cultured cells transiently transfected with a dsx minigene revealed that Bmtra-2 can induce female-specific splicing of Drosophila dsx. To examine the role Bmtra-2 plays in regulating sex-specific splicing of Bmdsx pre-mRNA, we used an RNAi approach to reduce BmTra-2 expression in the early embryo. Embryos injected with dsRNAs or siRNAs targeted to Bmtra-2 showed no variation in the sex-specific splicing pattern of Bmdsx pre-mRNA. RNAi knockdown of Bmtra-2 in the early embryo caused abnormal testis formation. Taken together, these results indicate that Bmtra-2 is required for normal testis development, but is not involved in regulating the sex-specific splicing of Bmdsx pre-mRNA, even though it is capable of inducing the female-specific splicing of Drosophila dsx.
PY  - 2012
DO  - 10.1387/ijdb.120049ms
VL  - 56
IS  - 9
SP  - 693
EP  - 699
J2  - Int. J. Dev. Biol.
LA  - en
SN  - 0214-6282
SN  - 1696-3547
UR  - https://ijdb.ehu.eus/article/120049ms
Y2  - 2024/05/02/16:51:33
ER  -