Oestrogen shuts the door on SOX9.
Date
2010-08-31
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Repository Usage Stats
views
downloads
Citation Stats
Abstract
Oestrogen exerts a robust yet imperfectly understood effect on sexual development in vertebrate embryos. New work by Pask and colleagues in BMC Biology indicates that it may interfere with male development by preventing nuclear localization of SOX9, a master regulator of the testis differentiation pathway. See research article http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/8/113.
Type
Department
Description
Provenance
Citation
Permalink
Published Version (Please cite this version)
Publication Info
Mork, Lindsey, and Blanche Capel (2010). Oestrogen shuts the door on SOX9. BMC Biol, 8. p. 110. 10.1186/1741-7007-8-110 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/4374.
This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
Collections
Scholars@Duke
Blanche Capel
In mammals, the primary step in male sex determination is the initiation of testis development in the bipotential gonad primordium. This step depends on the Y-linked male sex-determining gene, Sry. Expression of Sry in the XY gonad, or as a transgene in an XX gonad, leads to the differentiation of Sertoli cells. Failures in Sertoli cell differentiation in the XY gonad result in sex reversal and ovary formation. We are also interested in the biology of germ cells -- the cells that give rise to eggs and sperm. I have had a longstanding interest in the communication between Sertoli cells and germ cells in fetal life and afterwards, once the seminiferous epithelium is established. In adult life, each Sertoli cell communicates with germ cells at multiple stages of development from spermatogonial stem cells located at their base to elongated spermatids, released at their apical surface. How can Sertoli cells direct specific information to each of the germ cells wedged between their cell membranes? This problem previously seemed unapproachable, because it was so difficult to figure out where to anchor the analysis, and the cost of transgenics seemed prohibitive. However, recently we have been collaborating with a colleague in my department (Scott Soderling) who has designed an AAV system to deliver CRISPR and tag genetic loci in vivo with BioID for proximity protein labeling. We found that we can deliver the backbone AAV to Sertoli cell within seminiferous tubules with high efficiency by injection into the rete testis. Combining expertise of our labs provides an opportunity to do a similar analysis in Sertoli cells with the goal of identifying localized communication between Sertoli cells and the germ cells they support.
Unless otherwise indicated, scholarly articles published by Duke faculty members are made available here with a CC-BY-NC (Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial) license, as enabled by the Duke Open Access Policy. If you wish to use the materials in ways not already permitted under CC-BY-NC, please consult the copyright owner. Other materials are made available here through the author’s grant of a non-exclusive license to make their work openly accessible.