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U of M researchers discover gene required to maintain male sex throughout life
University of Minnesota ^ | July 20, 2011 | Unknown

Posted on 07/20/2011 11:52:44 AM PDT by decimon

Researchers find that loss of gene Dmrt1 leads to male cells becoming female

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (July 20, 2011) – University of Minnesota Medical School and College of Biological Sciences researchers have made a key discovery showing that male sex must be maintained throughout life.

The research team, led by Drs. David Zarkower and Vivian Bardwell of the U of M Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development, found that removing an important male development gene, called Dmrt1, causes male cells in mouse testis to become female cells.

The findings are published online today in Nature.

In mammals, sex chromosomes (XX in female, XY in male) determine the future sex of the animal during embryonic development by establishing whether the gonads will become testes or ovaries.

"Scientists have long assumed that once the sex determination decision is made in the embryo, it's final," Zarkower said. "We have now discovered that when Dmrt1 is lost in mouse testes – even in adults – many male cells become female cells and the testes show signs of becoming more like ovaries."

Previous research has shown that removing a gene, called Foxl2, in ovaries caused female cells to become male cells and the ovaries to become more like testes. According to Zarkower, the latest U of M research determines that the gonads of both sexes must actively maintain the original sex determination decision throughout the remainder of life.

For the genetic research community this new understanding is a breakthrough. The findings provide new insight into how to turn one cell type into another, a process known as reprogramming, and also show that throughout life, cells in the testis must be actively prevented from transforming into female cells normally found in the ovary.

"This work shows that sex determination in mammals can be surprisingly prone to change, and must be actively maintained throughout an organism's lifetime," said Dr. Susan Haynes, who oversees developmental biology grants at the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health. "These new insights have important implications for our understanding of how to reprogram cells to take on different identities, and may shed light on the origin of some human sex reversal disorders."

The new findings may force the scientific community to reconsider how disorders involving human sex-reversal occur. Some of these disorders may not result from errors in the original sex determination decision in the embryo, but instead may result from failure to maintain that decision later in embryonic development. In addition, because DMRT1 has been associated with human gonadal cancers, the researchers hope their findings will provide another clue into how gonadal cancer develops.

###

Drs. Clinton Matson and Mark Murphy of the Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development, and Dr. Aaron Sarver of the U of M Masonic Cancer Center were instrumental in performing these studies. The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.


TOPICS: Health/Medicine; Science
KEYWORDS: weird
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It seems there is a 'sex reversal syndrome' that is more common than I would have imagined. Or maybe this article refers to a different condition.

No, I don't think this part of some nefarious homosexual agenda.

1 posted on 07/20/2011 11:52:46 AM PDT by decimon
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To: neverdem; DvdMom; grey_whiskers; Ladysmith; Roos_Girl; Silentgypsy; conservative cat; ...

Ping


2 posted on 07/20/2011 11:53:38 AM PDT by decimon
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To: decimon; tx_eggman

It is further reported that the gene Dmrt1 seems to disappear after election to a public office.


3 posted on 07/20/2011 11:54:15 AM PDT by SpinnerWebb (In 2012 you will awaken from your HOPEnosis and have no recollection of this... "Constitution")
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To: decimon
researchers have made a key discovery showing that male sex must be maintained throughout life

Much to the relief of wives throughout the world.

4 posted on 07/20/2011 11:57:02 AM PDT by frithguild
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To: decimon
U of M researchers discover gene required to maintain male sex throughout life

Great - so the treatment is for my wife?! (badum bum)

5 posted on 07/20/2011 11:57:02 AM PDT by PGR88 (I'm so open-minded my brains fell out)
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To: decimon

Doea this mean that the guy in that old song is actually his own GrandMA, not his own GrandPA?


6 posted on 07/20/2011 11:57:45 AM PDT by WayneS (Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm. -- James Madison)
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To: decimon

Budweiser: The King of Genes


7 posted on 07/20/2011 11:59:54 AM PDT by donhunt (I am sick and tired of those bastards insulting and lying to me.)
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To: decimon
Gee...could this insight be used as prenatal therapy to prevent homosexuality in males?
8 posted on 07/20/2011 11:59:54 AM PDT by rottndog (Be Prepared for what's coming AFTER America....)
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To: decimon
We carry the relics of our past in the way our genes work.

It is fairly common, among fish and some amphibians and reptiles, to start out as a small male, then ‘mature’ into a large female.

Thus a gene keeping ‘male cells’ from becoming female may reflect that the default was previously that males would eventually (absent a protein signal constantly being produced) become female.

9 posted on 07/20/2011 12:03:47 PM PDT by allmendream (Tea Party did not send the GOP to D.C. to negotiate the terms of our surrender to socialism.)
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To: decimon

explains RINOs, doesn’t it?


10 posted on 07/20/2011 12:05:17 PM PDT by NonValueAdded (From her lips to the voters' ears: Debbie Wasserman Schultz: "We own the economy" June 15, 2011)
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To: decimon
I've always wondered why great rock stars always turn to la-la music as they get older.
11 posted on 07/20/2011 12:05:35 PM PDT by Dixie Yooper (Ephesians 6:11)
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To: decimon

DMRT1 lack means sex reversal in cells. On the other hand too much DeMoRaTs means sex reversal in politics.


12 posted on 07/20/2011 12:06:25 PM PDT by techcor (I hope Obama succeeds, in being a one term president.)
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To: decimon

Well, this should put an end to it.

13 posted on 07/20/2011 12:09:00 PM PDT by dragonblustar (I love Allen West!)
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To: rottndog
Gee...could this insight be used as prenatal therapy to prevent homosexuality in males?

And lesbians, too. Parents could get medication to make sure their children grow up to be normal, healthy adults. I hope they keep working on this. (The only thing left to conquer then will be the mental indoctrination in the government schools.)
The disease of homosexuality could be eradicated once and for all - like polio.

14 posted on 07/20/2011 12:09:10 PM PDT by concerned about politics ("Get thee behind me, Liberal")
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To: rottndog
Gee...could this insight be used as prenatal therapy to prevent homosexuality in males?

And lesbians, too. Parents could get medication to make sure their children grow up to be normal, healthy adults. I hope they keep working on this. (The only thing left to conquer then will be the mental indoctrination in the government schools.)
The disease of homosexuality could be eradicated once and for all - like polio.

15 posted on 07/20/2011 12:11:09 PM PDT by concerned about politics ("Get thee behind me, Liberal")
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To: techcor
DMRT1 lack means sex reversal in cells. On the other hand too much DeMoRaTs means sex reversal in politics.

LOL.

16 posted on 07/20/2011 12:13:02 PM PDT by concerned about politics ("Get thee behind me, Liberal")
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To: SpinnerWebb
It is further reported that the gene Dmrt1 seems to disappear after election to a public office.

That's when the quid pro quo gene becomes dominant.

17 posted on 07/20/2011 12:16:15 PM PDT by decimon
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To: SpinnerWebb
It is further reported that the gene Dmrt1 seems to disappear after election to a public office.

Dmrt1, aka the Jordache gene...
18 posted on 07/20/2011 12:16:54 PM PDT by BikerJoe
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To: NonValueAdded

So we should put McCain, Romney, and Perry in the key words?


19 posted on 07/20/2011 12:17:10 PM PDT by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
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To: decimon

So is this the mytical homosexual gene?


20 posted on 07/20/2011 12:17:31 PM PDT by taxcontrol
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