Male- and female-specific variants of doublesex gene products have different roles to play towards regulation of Sex combs reduced expression and sex comb morphogenesis in Drosophila.

Sexually dimorphic characters have two-fold complexities in pattern formation as they have to get input fromboth somatic sex determination as well as the positional determining regulators. Sex comb development in Drosophila requires functions of the somatic sex-determining gene doublesex and the homeotic gene Sex combs reduced. Attempts have not been made to decipher the role of dsx in imparting sexually dimorphic expression of SCR and the differential function of sex-specific variants of dsx products in sex comb development. Our results in this study indicate that male-like pattern of SCR expression is independent of dsx function, and dsxF must be responsible for bringing about dimorphism in SCR expression, whereas dsxM function is required with Scr for the morphogenesis of sex comb.