Sex determination: insights from the chicken
Citations Over TimeTop 10% of 2004 papers
Abstract
Abstract Not all vertebrates share the familiar system of XX:XY sex determination seen in mammals. In the chicken and other birds, sex is determined by a ZZ:ZW sex chromosome system. Gonadal development in the chicken has provided insights into the molecular genetics of vertebrate sex determination and how it has evolved. Such comparative studies show that vertebrate sex‐determining pathways comprise both conserved and divergent elements. The chicken embryo resembles lower vertebrates in that estrogens play a central role in gonadal sex differentiation. However, several genes shown to be critical for mammalian sex determination are also expressed in the chicken, but their expression patterns differ, indicating functional plasticity. While the genetic trigger for sex determination in birds remains unknown, some promising candidate genes have recently emerged. The Z‐linked gene, DMRT1 , supports the Z‐dosage model of avian sex determination. Two novel W‐linked genes, ASW and FET1 , represent candidate female determinants. BioEssays 26:120–132, 2004. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Related Papers
- Familial case of 46,XX male and 46,XX true hermaphrodite associated with a paternal-derived SRY-bearing X chromosome.(1993)
- → The IL-9 receptor gene, located in the Xq/Yq pseudoautosomal region, has an autosomal origin, escapes X inactivation and is expressed from the Y(1997)59 cited
- → Developmental genetics and physiology of sex differentiation in vertabrates(2003)16 cited
- → Sex determination, sex differentiation, and the Y chromosome—a mostly last quarter of the century effort(2021)
- Mechanisms of gonadal differentiation in vertebrates : contributions of an EMBO-Workshop held in Freiburg, November 5-8, 1982(1983)