# SEX DETERMINATION SIGNAL IN C ELEGANS

> **NIH NIH R01** · FRED HUTCHINSON CANCER RESEARCH CENTER · 1994 · $163,826

## Abstract

Sexual differentiation is important to most aspects of an animal's life and
is an interesting problem in developmental genetics.  In the nematode
Caenorhabditis elegans, sex determination depends on the ration of the
number of X chromosomes to the ploidy of the animal, termed the X/A ratio.
The signal for sex determination consists then of two parts:  X-linked
feminizing elements and autosomal masculinizing elements.  By microinjectin
DNA from the X chromosome, six feminizing elements have been defined. All
of these have an identical eight base sequence.  This octamer itself is als
feminizing when microinjected.  One current project is to test sequences
related to this octamer and to define the minimal and optimal feminizing
sequence.  A second project is to determine how this octamer sequence is
distributed in the genome.  If the octamer is part of the X/A ratio, it wil
be more prevalent on the X chromosome than on the autosomes.  One of the
major goals is to determine how this sequence functions in sex
determination.  One way to approach this goal is to identify proteins that
bind to the feminizing sequence and define the genes that encode these
proteins.  These genes may include the autosomal masculinizing elements.
The long-term goal is to determine the mechanism of the X/A ration in C.
elegans and the relationship between sex determination and dosage
compensation.  Identifying a sequence involved in sex determination is a
major step towards that goal.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 2199135
- **Project number:** 5R01HD024324-05
- **Recipient organization:** FRED HUTCHINSON CANCER RESEARCH CENTER
- **SAM.gov UEI:** HMSNCM57QNR5
- **Principal Investigator:** PHILIP M MENEELY
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1994
- **Award amount:** $163,826
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1990-02-01 → 1995-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/2199135

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 2199135, SEX DETERMINATION SIGNAL IN C ELEGANS (5R01HD024324-05). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/2199135. Licensed CC0.

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