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Anatomical and Molecular Analyses of XY Ovaries from the African Pygmy Mouse Mus minutoides

Authors :
Julie Perez
Paul A. Saunders
Frédéric Veyrunes
Francis Poulat
Dagmar Wilhelm
Brigitte Boizet-Bonhoure
Massilva Rahmoun
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.

Details

ISSN :
16615433 and 16615425
Volume :
8
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Sexual Development
Accession number :
edsair.doi...........f791d471c5bc7a8cacbc6bf00cbc0fc8