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| credit: gizmodo.com |
"Hokkaido University researchers have revealed that key sex-determining genes continue to operate in a mammalian species that lacks the Y chromosome, taking us a step further toward understanding sex differentiation.
In most placental mammals, the Y chromosome induces male differentiation during development, whereas embryos without it become female. The sex-determining gene SRY is present on the Y chromosome and induces other regulatory genes that suppress female differentiation. The Amami spiny rat (Tokudaia osimensis) is exceptional as it lacks a Y chromosome and thus the SRY gene, raising the question of why male differentiation can still occur.
Tomofumi Otake and Asako Kuroiwa of Hokkaido University in Japan performed gene mapping to determine the chromosomal locations of sex-related genes in the T. osimensis genome. They then compared its nucleotide and amino acid sequences with those of the mouse and rat. Furthermore, using cultured cells, they examined how the sex-related genes were regulated..."
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