Reduced Activity of SRY and its Target Enhancer Sox9-TESCO in a Mouse Species with XY Sex Reversal

In most eutherian mammals, sex determination is governed by the Y-linked gene Sry, but in African pygmy mice Mus minutoides, Sry action is overridden by a variant X chromosome (X*), yielding X*Y females. We hypothesized that X*Y sex reversal may be underpinned not only by neomorphic X chromosome fun...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2017-02, Vol.7 (1), p.41378-41378, Article 41378
Main Authors: Zhao, Liang, Quinn, Alexander, Ng, Ee Ting, Veyrunes, Frederic, Koopman, Peter
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
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Females
Haplotypes
Humanities and Social Sciences
Life Sciences
Males
multidisciplinary
Ovaries
Proteins
Reproductive Biology
Science
Sex determination
Sex reversal
Sox9 protein
Transcription
X chromosomes
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Summary:In most eutherian mammals, sex determination is governed by the Y-linked gene Sry, but in African pygmy mice Mus minutoides, Sry action is overridden by a variant X chromosome (X*), yielding X*Y females. We hypothesized that X*Y sex reversal may be underpinned not only by neomorphic X chromosome functionality, but also by a compromised Sry pathway. Here, we show that neither M. minutoides SRY nor its target, the Sox9- TESCO enhancer, had appreciable transcriptional activity in in vitro assays, correlating with sequence degradation compared to Mus musculus counterparts. However, M. minutoides SRY activated its cognate TESCO to a moderate degree, and can clearly engage the male pathway in M. minutoides in the wild, indicating that SRY and TESCO may have co-evolved in M. minutoides to retain function above a threshold level. We suggest that weakening of the SRY/TESCO nexus may have facilitated the rise and spread of a variant X* chromosome carrying female-inducing modifier gene(s).
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/srep41378