Genes and Mechanisms in Vertebrate Sex Determination

Download or read book Genes and Mechanisms in Vertebrate Sex Determination written by Gerd Scherer and published by Birkhäuser. This book was released on 2013-04-17 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following an opening chapter by the late Susumu Ohno on paralogues of sex-determining genes, the five best-studied genes essential for early mammalian gonadal development are portrayed in detail: SF-1 and WT1 and their roles in early events in gonadal development, SRY and SOX9 in testis determination, and the anti-testis gene DAX-1. Subsequent chapters look at the roles of these genes in sex determination in marsupial mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish, and review the different sex-determining mechanisms, genetic and environmental, that operate in these different vertebrate classes. Two insights emerge: one, that the same basic set of genes appears to operate during early gonadal development in all vertebrates, despite the differences in mechanisms; the other, that sex determination in vertebrates results from a complex network of regulatory interactions and not from a simple hierarchical cascade of gene actions.