Possible role for H–Y antigen in the primary determination of sex

The functional maturation of the Sertoli cell and Leydig cell in the mammalian testis

“…Thus, sexual differentiation of the male gonad starts with the formation of the testicular or seminiferous cords at 13 days of gestation in the rat (Jost, Magre, Cressent & Perlman, 1974;Jost, Magre & Ageloupoulou, 1981), 26 days in the pig (Pelliniemi, 1975;Pelliniemi & Lauteala, 1981) and 42 days in the human (Pelliniemi & Dym, 1980). The testicular cords are believed to be directed by the presence of the H-Y antigen and its bind¬ ing to receptors on the somatic gonadal blastema cells (Wachtel, Ohno, Koo & Boyse, 1975;Ohno, 1976;Wachtel & Koo, 1981;Silvers, Gasser & Eicher, 1982; Gore-Langton, Tung & Fritz, 1983;see Ritzen & Syed, 1985). In the pig fetus at 27 days of age testicular cords surround interstitial spaces which contain small, irregularly shaped, undifferentiated cells.…”

The sex-determining region of the human Y chromosome encodes a finger protein

“…The breakpoint in XX male LGL203 corresponds roughly to the distal end of the DXYS7-like domain on Yp. tion in mice (Eichwald and Silmser, 1955). It has been proposed and widely accepted that H-Y antigen is TDF (Wachtel et al, 1975). To be sure, H-Y antigen and TDF are both encoded or regulated by the Y chromosome.…”

Molecular basis governing primary sex in mammals

“…The development of mammalian male gonad from an embryo was inferred to be caused by factors on the short arm of the Y Chr (Welshons and Russell, 1959;Jacobs and Ross, 1966). Some possible candidate factors for primary sex determination were proposed (Wachtel et al, 1975;Page et al, 1987;Mardon and Page, 1989), however these have not been confirmed (McLauren et aL, 1984;Palmer et al, 1989;Koopman et al, 1989). A well known male specific histocompatibility-Y (H-Y) antigen was postulated as a primary testis inducer (Wachtel et al, 1975), but this was not verified due to a lack of the H-Y antigen in a mouse with testes (McLauren et al, 1984).…”

“…Some possible candidate factors for primary sex determination were proposed (Wachtel et al, 1975;Page et al, 1987;Mardon and Page, 1989), however these have not been confirmed (McLauren et aL, 1984;Palmer et al, 1989;Koopman et al, 1989). A well known male specific histocompatibility-Y (H-Y) antigen was postulated as a primary testis inducer (Wachtel et al, 1975), but this was not verified due to a lack of the H-Y antigen in a mouse with testes (McLauren et al, 1984). However, cumulative karyotypic analysis on several abnormal sex patients revealed a functional region for sex determination on the Y Chr (McLauren, 1990), Further, the proposition of the genetic switch model for primary sex determination with the testis determining gene (factor) TDF/Tdy on the Y Chr in humans and mice is credible (Eicher et al, 1982;Eicher and Washburn, 1983).…”