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Anatomical and Molecular Analyses of XY Ovaries from the African Pygmy Mouse Mus minutoides
- Source :
- Sexual Development. 8:356-363
- Publication Year :
- 2014
- Publisher :
- S. Karger AG, 2014.
-
Abstract
- The African pygmy mouse Mus minutoides is characterized by the presence of a high proportion of fertile XY females in natural populations. This species displays 2 morphologically different X chromosomes: the ancestral X and a shorter one designated as X*, feminizing the X*Y individuals. This strongly suggests that in the presence of an X* chromosome, the male differentiation program is not activated despite a functional Y chromosome. In this study, we compared the histology of the adult ovaries of the 3 female genotypes (XX, XX* and X*Y) and investigated the expression of some of the main genes involved in male and female differentiation. We found that X*Y gonads display a typical ovarian structure without any testicular organization. Moreover, the ovarian somatic marker FOXL2 is detected in X*Y follicle cells and exhibits the same pattern as in XX and XX* ovaries, whereas SOX9 and DMRT1 are absent at all stages of follicular differentiation. However, surprisingly, X*Y ovaries display a higher level of Sry transcripts compared to testes. Our findings confirm the complete sex reversal in X*Y individuals with no apparent sign of masculinization, providing an attractive model to unravel new gene interactions involved in the mammalian sex determination system.
- Subjects :
- Genetics
0303 health sciences
Embryology
biology
Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
Mus minutoides
Chromosome
Ovary
Sex reversal
biology.organism_classification
Y chromosome
Molecular biology
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Testis determining factor
medicine.anatomical_structure
Sex-determination system
medicine
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
X chromosome
030304 developmental biology
Developmental Biology
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 16615433 and 16615425
- Volume :
- 8
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Sexual Development
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........f791d471c5bc7a8cacbc6bf00cbc0fc8