Cultivars used for wine and table grape have self-fertile hermaphrodite flowers whereas wild European vines and American and Asian species are dioecious, having either male or female flowers. Consistent with previous studies, the flower sex trait was mapped as a single major locus on chromosome 2 based on a pure Vitis vinifera population segregating for hermaphrodite and female progeny, and a h...

Most dioecious plant species are believed to derive from hermaphrodite ancestors. The regulatory pathways that have been modified during evolution of the hermaphrodite ancestors and led to the emergence of dioecious species still remain unknown. Silene latifolia is a dioecious plant species harboring XY sex chromosomes. To identify the molecular mechanisms involved in female organ suppression i...

Sex determination in the nematode C. elegans is dependent on cell-to-cell communication, which appears to be mediated by the predicted membrane protein TRA-2A and the secreted protein HER-1. In XO males, HER-1 is hypothesised to function as a repressive ligand that inactivates the TRA-2A receptor. In XX animals, HER-1 is absent and TRA-2A promotes hermaphrodite development by negatively regulat...

Among vertebrates, fishes show an exceptional range of reproductive strategies regarding the expression of their sexuality. Fish sexualities were categorized into gonochorism, synchronous/sequential hermaphrodite, or unisexual reproduction. In gonochoristic fishes, sex is determined genetically or by environmental factors. After sex determination, the gonads are differentiated into ovary or tes...