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First published online December 7, 2008

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SRY functions briefly with effect

Early mammalian embryos of both sexes have bipotential gonads. In female embryos, supporting cell precursors in these structures differentiate into granulosa cells and an ovary is formed. In male embryos, transient expression of the Y-linked sex-determining gene Sry in the supporting cells promotes Sertoli cell differentiation and testis development. But when does Sry expression switch these cells from the female to the male pathway? By examining gonad development in a mouse line that carries a heat-shock-inducible Sry transgene, Hiramatsu and colleagues show, on p. 129, that Sry has to be expressed during a 6-hour time window immediately after its expression normally begins in XY gonads to induce testis development in XX gonads. Sry action during this unexpectedly short period, they report, is essential for the switch between female- and male-specific FGF9/WNT4 signalling patterns. These results provide new insights into gonadal sex determination and also define for the first time the critical time window in which a master gene that determines organ fate has to act.

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A critical time window of Sry action in gonadal sex determination in mice

Ryuji Hiramatsu, Shogo Matoba, Masami Kanai-Azuma, Naoki Tsunekawa, Yuko Katoh-Fukui, Masamichi Kurohmaru, Ken-ichirou Morohashi, Dagmar Wilhelm, Peter Koopman, and Yoshiakira Kanai
Development 2009 136: 129-138. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in Development Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?