Evolution - Conservation of a sex-determining gene

被引:305
作者
Smith, CA [1 ]
McClive, PJ
Western, PS
Reed, KJ
Sinclair, AH
机构
[1] Univ Melbourne, Royal Childrens Hosp, Dept Paediat, Melbourne, Vic 3052, Australia
[2] Univ Melbourne, Royal Childrens Hosp, Ctr Hormone Res, Melbourne, Vic 3052, Australia
关键词
D O I
10.1038/45130
中图分类号
O [数理科学和化学]; P [天文学、地球科学]; Q [生物科学]; N [自然科学总论];
学科分类号
07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;
摘要
Vertebrates exhibit a surprising array of sex-determining mechanisms, including X- and Y-chromosome heterogametes in male mammals, Z- and W-chromosome hetero-gametes in female birds, and a temperature-dependent mechanism in many reptiles1. The Y-chromosome-linked SRY gene initiates male development in mammals2,3, but other vertebrates lack SRY and the genes controlling sex determination are largely unknown. Here we show that a gene implicated in human testis differentiation, DMRT1, has a gonad-specific and sexually dimorphic expression profile during embryogenesis in mammals, birds and a reptile (Alligator mississippiensis). Given the different sex-determining switches in these three groups, this gene must represent an ancient, conserved component of the ver-tebrate sex-determining pathway.
引用
收藏
页码:601 / 602
页数:2
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