Cale Whitworth

This study shows that fruitless (fru) is regulated by doublesex (dsx) in the gonad stem cell niche, promoting sexual dimorphism independently of Transformer-mediated alternative splicing.

The paper shows that in Drosophila, gonad stem cell niches can switch between male and female programs in dsx mutants, indicating dsx tips the balance rather than instructs the fate.

This study identifies the small ovary (sov) gene in Drosophila, which encodes a zinc-finger protein required for ovarian differentiation by repressing cell signaling and transposons.

The paper examines gene dosage effects in Drosophila deficiency heterozygotes, finding varied transcriptional responses and minimal long-range regulatory impacts from breakpoints.