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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Hilo, Hawaii » Daniel K. Inouye U.S. Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center » Tropical Plant Genetic Resources and Disease Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #202920
Title: Sex Determination in Papaya

Author
item MING, RAY - UNIV OF ILLINOIS AT URBAN
item YU, QINGYI - HI AG RESEARCH CENTER
item Moore, Paul

Submitted to: Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/29/2006
Publication Date: 8/10/2007
Citation: Ming, R., Yu, Q., Moore, P.H. 2007. Sex Determination in Papaya. Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology 18:401-408.

Interpretive Summary: Not applicable

Technical Abstract: Sex determination is an intriguing system in trioecious papaya. Over the past seven decades various hypotheses, based on the knowledge and information available at the time, have been proposed to explain the genetics of the papaya's sex determination. These include a single gene with three alleles, a group of closely linked genes, a genic balance of sex chromosome over autosomes, classical XY chromosomes, and regulatory elements of the flower development pathway. Recent advancements in genomic technology make it possible to characterize the genomic region involved in sex determination at the molecular level. High density linkage mapping validated the hypothesis that predicted recombination suppression at the sex determination locus. Physical mapping and sample sequencing of the non-recombination region led to the conclusion that sex determination is controlled by a pair of primitive sex chromosomes with a small male specific region (MSY) of the Y chromosome. We now postulate that two sex determination genes control the sex determination pathway. One, a feminizing or stamen suppressor gene, causes stamen abortion before or at flower inception while the other, a masculinizing or carpel suppressor gene, causes carpel abortion at later flower developmental stage. Detailed physical mapping is beginning to reveal structural details about the sex determination region and sequencing is expected to uncover candidate sex-determining genes. Cloning of the sex determination genes and understanding the sex determination process could have profound application in papaya production.