High impact information on csd

• The gene csd is the primary signal for sexual development in the honeybee and encodes an SR-type protein [1].
• Moreover, the first csd sequence data are a notable basis for the avoidance of diploid males in bee selection programs by allele-assisted breeding [2].
• In these species, the development into one sex or the others depends on an initial signal whether there is only one allele or two different alleles of a single gene, the complementary sex determiner (csd), in the zygotic genome [3].
• Although no recombination was observed within SDL, which contains csd, analyses of heterogeneity, shared polymorphic sites, and linkage disequilibrium (LD) show that recombination has contributed to the evolution of the 5' part of some csd sequences [4].
• Gene conversion, however, has not obviously contributed to the evolution of csd sequences [4].

Biological context of csd

• Their findings illustrate situations in which there is a feedback process between decreased genetic variation at the csd locus owing to genetic drift and decreased population growth, resulting in an extreme type of extinction vortex for these ecologically important organisms [5].

References