When testing on mice the researhers found that the deletion of one gene, Gadd45g, made the male's external genitalia match that of females. Then when they looked at the internal reproductive organs the male's also looked identical to the females. So the deletion of this one gene, Gadd45g, caused a complete sex reversal in the male mice. Christof Niehrs, Director Professor at IMB, said, "when breeding Gadd45g mutant mice we were puzzled why we got only females, until we discovered that some of these females actually carry a Y-chromosome." The scientist furthered showed that the Gadd45g gene controls the Sry gene by signaling it to work or not. The Sry gene is the know master regualtor of male sex expression. They think the Gadd45g gene regulates Sry by binding to p38, a key signaling protien, and activating the transcription factor Gata4. Once active, this factor binds to the Sry gene and ultimately turns it on. "This study both identifies a new role for Gadd45g and suggests a novel signaling pathway that could have important implications for research into disorders of sexual development."-Medical News Today.
I think this article is interesting because it shows how perfect DNA copying has to be, becuase the deletion of just one gene could have a huge effect. It makes me wonder if the scientist's discovery could be applied to human sex determination though. I do think it's cool that their discovery also shows how narrow the timeframe is in an embryo for sex organs to develop correctly.
Wow! This is really cool. I had always wondered what how the gender of an individual was developed genetically. That is so interesting how the removal of one gene can determine whether the individual will be male or female. It would be interesting to find out if the same is true for other species as well. Overall, very good job on writing this post.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how this works, because the sex of a human is determined by whether an x gamete or y gamete enters the egg. If they change the genitalia of an individual who still contains a y chromosome I wonder what consequences could occur! Nonetheless, this is still such an interesting find!
ReplyDeleteThis is an amazing breakthrough for science as now we are able to see exactly what gene it is that makes us male or female and have the ability to change it. We can determine now whether or not we will have a girl or boy and that, to me, is amazing. Great article!
ReplyDelete