Male-specific phosphorylated SR proteins in adult flies of the Mediterranean Fruitfly Ceratitis capitata

Giuseppe Saccone, Christos Louis, Hongyou Zhang, Valeria Petrella, Manuela Di Natale, Maria Perri, Marco Salvemini

Alternative splicing is a widely used mechanism of gene regulation in sex determination pathways of Insects. In species from orders as distant as Diptera, Hymenoptera and Coleoptera, female differentiation relies on the activities of conserved splicing regulators, TRA and TRA-2, promoting female-specific expression of the global effector doublesex (dsx). Less understood is to what extent post-translational modifications of splicing regulators plays a role in this pathway. In Drosophila melanogaster phosphorylation of TRA, TRA-2 and the general RBP1 factor by the LAMMER kinase doa (darkener of apricot) is required for proper female sex determination. To explore whether this is a general feature of the pathway we examined sex-specific differences in phosphorylation levels of SR splicing factors in the dipteran species D. melanogaster, Ceratitis capitata (Medfly) and Musca domestica (Housefly). We found a distinct and reproducible pattern of male-specific phosphorylation on protein extracts enriched for SR proteins in C. capitata suggesting that differential phosphorylation may also contribute to the regulation of sex-specific splicing in the Medfly.