Figure 5
Sex-specific splicing of the sxl mRNA. Early activation of the sxl gene through a different primer (PE) in females allows the appearance of an early SXL protein that guides the splicing of the mRNA originating from the 'standard' primer (PM). This alternative splicing leads to a functional 'mature' SXL protein that then takes up the role of retaining its active state. In males, where no early transcripts can be found, a male-specific exon is included which contains many early stop codons thus leading to the creation of a truncated and non functional protein.