Thomas Warren Cline

Using sexual dimorphism in the fruit fly, D. melanogaster, as a model system, Cline has sought to understand how metazoan development is programmed, how that programming is executed at the molecular level, and how it evolves. He discovered the molecular basis for sex determination in the fruit fly. Current work, all of which has a strong genetical component, deals with (1) structure-function relationships for genes, RNA and protein involved in fly sex determination; (2) the relationship between sex-determination in germ cells vs. somatic cells; and (3) the remarkably rapid evolution of the fruit fly sex-determination system.