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Query: UNIPROT:P50583 (asymmetrical)
 12,197 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The genetics of sex determination is a child of the twentieth century, which overturned the previously held view that sex was determined by the environment. The last quarter of the century witnessed an active search for sex-determining genes in mammals. Although successful, the modus operandi of these genes remained unknown, and the relationship between the sex-determining systems of mammals and other vertebrates remained enigmatic. To overcome these problems, scientists in the 21st century should heed William Bateson's counsel to treasure exceptions, for they point the way to progress. One exception to conventional concepts of sex determination is the bilaterally asymmetrical distribution of ovaries and testes in true hermaphroditism. Ovaries favour the left side in humans and the right side in mice. Observations suggesting that a reversal of asymmetry may occur with increasing organ size may point to a possible explanation. A reevaluation is also required regarding the beginning of sex differentiation, in view of mounting evidence of a sex difference in growth rates of early embryos. Another question to be settled is whether the function of SRY is confined to the fetal gonad. The recent demonstration that Sry induces cell proliferation in the fetal mouse gonad (Schmahl et al., 2000) further emphasizes the importance of differential growth in sex determination and differentiation. It is suggested that SRY represents an additional growth-promoting gene sequestered by mammals to enable the XY embryo to undergo male sex differentiation in the female hormonal environment of the uterus. An increased awareness of the relationship between growth and gonadal differentiation should lead to a better understanding of sex determination in mammals and an ability to relate the function of sex-determining genes to the effects of environmental factors. J. Exp. Zool. 290:484-489, 2001.
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PMID:Genetics of mammalian sex determination: some unloved exceptions. 1155 55

Introgressive hybridization is a widespread evolutionary phenomenon which may lead to increased allelic variation at selective neutral loci and to transfer of fitness-related traits to introgressed lineages. We inferred the population genetic structure of the European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) in Poland from mitochondrial (CR and cyt b) and sex-linked markers (ZFX, SRY, DBY4 and DBY8). Analyses of CR mtDNA sequences from 452 individuals indicated widespread introgression of Siberian roe deer (C. pygargus) mtDNA in the European roe deer genome, 2000 km from the current distribution range of C. pygargus. Introgressed individuals constituted 16.6% of the deer studied. Nearly 75% of them possessed haplotypes belonging to the group which arose 23 kyr ago and have not been detected within the natural range of Siberian roe deer, indicating that majority of present introgression has ancient origin. Unlike the mtDNA results, sex-specific markers did not show signs of introgression. Species distribution modelling analyses suggested that C. pygargus could have extended its range as far west as Central Europe after last glacial maximum. The main hybridization event was probably associated with range expansion of the most abundant European roe deer lineage from western refugia and took place in Central Europe after the Younger Dryas (10.8-10.0 ka BP). Initially, introgressed mtDNA variants could have spread out on the wave of expansion through the mechanism of gene surfing, reaching high frequencies in European roe deer populations and leading to observed asymmetrical gene flow. Human-mediated introductions of C. pygargus had minimal effect on the extent of mtDNA introgression.
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PMID:Unexpected population genetic structure of European roe deer in Poland: an invasion of the mtDNA genome from Siberian roe deer. 2469 66