《环境昆虫学报》

作者	单位
郭至昱，顾金保	1. 南方医科大学口腔医院（口腔医学院），广州 510515；2. 广东省新发传染病重点实验室，南方医科大学公共卫生学院，广州 510515

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中文摘要:

蚊属于典型的性二态昆虫，两性在行为上有着巨大差异，雄性成蚊主要依靠植物汁液获取碳源，而雌性只有吸血后卵巢才能够正常发育，这也是蚊传播多种人类疾病的重要基础。蚊的性二态由复杂的性别决定基因通路调控，虽然通路中两个关键因子双性基因（doublesex，dsx）与fruitless（fru）在结构和功能上与其他昆虫具有高度保守性，通过性别可变剪切最终调控下游性别表型与性行为相关基因，但是其性别决定初始信号即雄性决定因子（Male-determining factor，M-factor）无论与其他昆虫相比还是属种间均具有巨大的差异，而从M-factor至dsx的调控通路亦尚未明确。目前，利用已知的蚊性别决定基因对蚊进行基因改造，在实验室已经初步达到了性别逆转或种群抑制的效果。本文综述了蚊性别决定调控通路中初始信号雄性决定因子的进化和作用机制，其下游信号通路的响应模式，以及以性别决定基因为靶点的转基因蚊防制策略，为深入理解蚊性别决定机制与探讨蚊媒防制提供新思路。

英文摘要:

Mosquitoes (Diptera∶Culicidae) are undoubtedly the most important insect vectors for the transmission of parasitic and viral infections to humans and animals and still pose serious public health risks. Mosquito vectors display distinct sexual dimorphisms between males and females. In addition to the visible primary sexual and secondary sexual characteristics, mosquitoes display distinguished, sexually dimorphic behaviour between sexes, and only adult females consume blood meals to complete ovarian follicle development. Therefore, cyclic reproduction in female mosquitoes serves as a foundation for the transmission of numerous disease-causing pathogens. Sex determination sets the stage for sexual differentiation and is the primary signal directing the embryo to develop as male or female. Sex determination in mosquito is controlled by a complex hierarchical regulatory cascade. Compared with high diversity of the primary sex-determining signal in different mosquito genus, the downstream genes in the hierarchical regulatory cascade are generally more conserved, such as the doublesex (dsx) and fruitless(fru), which acts as the terminal “double nexus” in the sex determination pathway. The precursor messenger RNA (pre-mRNA) of dsx gene is subjected to sex-specific alternative splicing (AS) regulation so that distinct male- and female-specific transcripts are produced in each sex and then control nearly all aspects of somatic sexual differentiation through asymmetric interactions between DSX and its tissue- and sex-specific target genes, which finally mediate sexual dimorphism. However, significant variations in the male-determining factor (M-factor) have been observed across different mosquito species. Furthermore, the missing link between Nix and dsx in the sex determination cascade in mosquitoes remains to be further explored. Currently, the manipulation of sex-determination factors has enabled the distortion of mosquito sex ratios or the selective elimination or incapacitation of female mosquitoes. This review summarizes the origin and evolution of M-factor, and mechanistic role of M-factor in regulating sex determination in mosquito, introduces the response mechanisms of downstream signaling pathways, explored the novel strategies based on targeting sex determination to suppress mosquito populations. The aim of this review is to further delve into the molecular mechanisms underlying sex determination in mosquitoes and identify potential molecular targets for mosquito control.

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