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Review
. 2024 Mar-Apr;16(2):e1636.
doi: 10.1002/wsbm.1636. Epub 2024 Jan 7.

Let's talk about sex: Mechanisms of neural sexual differentiation in Bilateria

Emma C Roggenbuck  1 , Elijah A Hall  1 , Isabel B Hanson  1 , Alyssa A Roby  1 , Katherine K Zhang  1 , Kyle A Alkatib  1 , Joseph A Carter  1   2 , Jarred E Clewner  1 , Anna L Gelfius  1 , Shiyuan Gong  1 , Finley R Gordon  1   2 , Jolene N Iseler  1 , Samhita Kotapati  1 , Marilyn Li  1 , Areeba Maysun  1 , Elise O McCormick  1 , Geetanjali Rastogi  1 , Srijani Sengupta  1 , Chantal U Uzoma  1 , Madison A Wolkov  1 , E Josephine Clowney  2   3
Affiliations
Review

Let's talk about sex: Mechanisms of neural sexual differentiation in Bilateria

Emma C Roggenbuck et al. WIREs Mech Dis. 2024 Mar-Apr.

Abstract

In multicellular organisms, sexed gonads have evolved that facilitate release of sperm versus eggs, and bilaterian animals purposefully combine their gametes via mating behaviors. Distinct neural circuits have evolved that control these physically different mating events for animals producing eggs from ovaries versus sperm from testis. In this review, we will describe the developmental mechanisms that sexually differentiate neural circuits across three major clades of bilaterian animals-Ecdysozoa, Deuterosomia, and Lophotrochozoa. While many of the mechanisms inducing somatic and neuronal sex differentiation across these diverse organisms are clade-specific rather than evolutionarily conserved, we develop a common framework for considering the developmental logic of these events and the types of neuronal differences that produce sex-differentiated behaviors. This article is categorized under: Congenital Diseases > Stem Cells and Development Neurological Diseases > Stem Cells and Development.

Keywords: DMRT; apoptosis; circuit evolution; comparative neuroscience; development; doublesex; fruitless; hormones; mating behavior; sex differentiation.

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References

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