Journal
BIOESSAYS
Volume 32, Issue 5, Pages 375-380Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/bies.200900193
Keywords
FOXL2; ovary determination; ovarian maintenance
Categories
Funding
- University Paris Diderot-Paris 7
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
- Institut Universitaire de France (IUF)
- Association pour la Recherche contre le Cancer
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Testis determination in most mammals is regulated by a genetic hierarchy initiated by the SRY gene. Early ovarian development has long been thought of as a default pathway switched on passively by the absence of SRY. Recent studies challenge this view and show that the ovary constantly represses male-specific genes, from embryonic stages to adulthood. Notably, the absence of the crucial ovarian transcription factor FOXL2 (alone or in combination with other factors) induces a derepression of male-specific genes during development, postnatally and, even more interestingly, during adulthood. Strikingly, in the adult, targeted ablation of Fox12 leads to a molecular transdifferentiation of the supporting cells of the ovary, which acquire cytological and transcriptomic characteristics of the supporting cells of the testes. These studies bring many answers to the field of gonadal determination, differentiation and maintenance, but also open many questions.
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