Authors
Antonella Ruggiero, Francesco Manfellotto, Svenja Mager, Federica di Costanzo, Tobias Gerber, Andrea Broccoli, Viviana Di Tuccio, Tomohiro Nishimura, Marco Sollitto, Leslie Pan, Alberto Pallavicini, Monia T Russo, Remo Sanges, Maria I Ferrante
Published in
Science advances. Volume 12. Issue 30. Pages eadz2992. Jul 24, 2026. Epub Jul 24, 2026.
Abstract
Sex determination mechanisms exhibit remarkable diversity across eukaryotic lineages. In the pennate diatom Pseudo-nitzschia multistriata, sex is determined by MRP3, a gene with unknown function, which is monoallelically expressed in sexually competent mating type plus (MT+) cells and silenced in MT- cells. Here, we describe an allelic-specific methylation pattern at the sex locus, with a hypomethylated allele specific to the MT+ which is transcriptionally active, while the other hypermethylated MRP3 alleles are transcriptionally silent. In addition, the genome-wide methylation landscape remains stable throughout the life cycle. Treatment with a methylation inhibitor leads to MRP3 activation and partial sex reversal, suggesting an active role of DNA methylation in the sex determination mechanism. Long-read sequencing improved the MT-determining region resolution, highlighting a gene-poor, repeat-rich area that likely represents a primordial MT-determining locus. Our results provide insights into the mechanisms of sex determination and suggest that DNA methylation in diatoms has a more complex role than silencing repetitive regions.
PMID:
42497256
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 25 Jul 2026.
Read full publication at:
Please sign in
to see all details.
Advertisement
Stats
- Recommendations n/a n/a positive of 0 vote(s)
- Views 8
- Comments 0