Nat Rev Genet. 2026 Oct 6. doi: 10.1038/s41576-026-01023-4.
How cells remember sex
Bruno Hudry1
Affiliations
1Université Côte d’Azur, CNRS, Inserm, Institut de Biologie Valrose, Nice, France.
Abstract
The discovery of sex chromosomes and their role in sex determination dates to the early twentieth century. Yet the genetic mechanisms underlying animal sex determination were not determined until the 1980s, notably through studies of Drosophila melanogaster. Thomas Cline’s 1984 work in this field stands out as a seminal demonstration of how classical genetics can address fundamental questions in developmental biology. Cline asked whether sex determination is a cell-autonomous commitment that, once established, persists independently of the initiating signal, or whether that signal must remain continuously present to preserve sexual identity. He addressed this question entirely through genetics, without the use of molecular biology tools.