ASW: a gene with conserved avian W-linkage and female specific expression in chick embryonic gonad |
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Authors: | Michael O’Neill Michele Binder Craig Smith J. Andrews Kirsty Reed Matthijs Smith Craig Millar David Lambert A. Sinclair |
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Affiliation: | (1) Department of Paediatrics and Centre for Hormone Research, University of Melbourne, Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria 3052, Australia E-mail: sinclair@cryptic.rch.unimelb.edu.a Tel.: +61-3-93456371, Fax: +61-3-93456000, AU;(2) Department of Ecology. Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand, NZ |
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Abstract: | Vertebrates exhibit a variety of sex determining mechanisms which fall broadly into two classes: environmental or genetic. In birds and mammals sex is determined by a genetic mechanism. In mammals males are the heterogametic sex (XY) with the Y chromosome acting as a dominant determiner of sex due to the action of the testis-determining factor, SRY. In birds females are the heterogametic sex (ZW); however, it is not known whether the W chromosome carries a dominant ovary-determining gene, or whether Z chromosome dosage determines sex. Using an experimental approach, which assumes only that the sex-determining event in birds is accompanied by sex-specific changes in gene expression, we have identified a novel gene, ASW (Avian Sex-specific W-linked). The putative protein for ASW is related to the HIT (histidine triad) family of proteins. ASW shows female-specific expression in genital ridges and maps to the chicken W chromosome. In addition, we show that, with the exception of ratites, ASW is linked to the W chromosome in each of 17 bird species from nine different families of the class Aves. Received: 18 October 1999 / Accepted: 10 January 2000 |
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Keywords: | Female-specific Gene expression Avian W-chromosome Gonad development |
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