Fig. 3: Cellular sex is essential and sufficient to drive sex differences.

a Diagrams representing the specific cell population with tra knock-out in females, the allele generated and the genotypes used. b Diagrams representing the specific cell population with traF knock-in in males, the allele generated and the genotypes tested. c–e Adult wing size (c), adult weight (d), female fertility (e) quantifications following tra knock-out specifically in dsx- and fru-negative cells. In all figures, the wing size and the weight of control females are set at 100%. All other sexes and genotypes are shown as a percentage of this female control. f Ovaries of control females and females with tra knock-out specifically in dsx- and fru-negative cells (DNA labelled with DAPI, blue; Actin stained with phalloidin, red). g–i Adult wing size (g), adult weight (h), and male fertility (i) quantifications following traF knock-in specifically in dsx- and fru-negative cells. j Testes of control males and males with traF knock-in specifically in dsx- and fru-negative cells (DNA labelled with DAPI, blue; Actin stained with phalloidin, red). k–m Adult wing size quantifications following tra knock-out and gain-of-function specifically in wing pouch cells (k), tra knock-down and overexpression in wing pouch cells (l), and tra knock-down specifically in wing cells outside the pouch (m). In this and all subsequent figures, boxplots display the minimum, the maximum, the sample median, and the first and third quartiles. Data was combined from at least three independent experiments. n = wing number measured per genotype in (c), (g), (k), (l), and (m), number of replicates (each repeat containing five flies) in (d) and (h) and number of flies in (e) and (i). Asterisks highlighting significant comparisons across sexes are displayed in grey boxes at the bottom of graphs; those highlighting significant comparisons within female and male datasets are displayed in red and blue boxes, respectively. When significant, the difference compared to the median of the controls is indicated. For all panels, p-values from one-sided Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon tests are ***p < 0.0001, **p = 0.0043, *p = 0.035, (ns) p = 0.7322.