Sex-lethal (''Sxl'') is a gene found in

Dipteran Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced ...

insects, named for its

mutation In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA or viral replication, m ...

phenotype in ''

Drosophila melanogaster ''Drosophila melanogaster'' is a species of fly (the taxonomic order Diptera) in the family Drosophilidae. The species is often referred to as the fruit fly or lesser fruit fly, or less commonly the " vinegar fly" or " pomace fly". Starting with ...

'' (). It is most closely related to the ELAV/

HUD Hud or HUD may refer to: Entertainment * Hud (1963 film), ''Hud'' (1963 film), a 1963 film starring Paul Newman * Hud (1986 film), ''Hud'' (1986 film), a 1986 Norwegian film * HUD (TV program), ''HUD'' (TV program), or ''Heads Up Daily'', a Canadi ...

subfamily of splicing factors. In fruit flies, this protein participates in alternative splicing of the ''transformer'' gene, deciding the sex of the fly. It induces female-specific alternative splicing of the ''transformer'' (''tra'') pre-mRNA by binding to the ''tra'' uridine-rich polypyrimidine tract at the non-sex-specific 3' splice site during the sex-determination process. SXL binds also to its own pre-mRNA and promotes female-specific alternative splicing. SXL contains an N-terminal Gly/Asn-rich domain that may be responsible for the protein-protein interaction, and tandem

RNA recognition motif RNA recognition motif, RNP-1 is a putative RNA-binding domain of about 90 amino acids that are known to bind single-stranded RNAs. It was found in many eukaryotic proteins. The largest group of single strand RNA-binding protein is the eukaryot ...

s (RRMs) that show high preference to bind single-stranded, uridine-rich target RNA transcripts.

References

{{InterPro content, IPR006546 Protein families Drosophila melanogaster genes