| First Author | Foster JW | Year | 1994 |
| Journal | Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A | Volume | 91 |
| Issue | 5 | Pages | 1927-31 |
| PubMed ID | 8127908 | Mgi Jnum | J:17104 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:65157 | Doi | 10.1073/pnas.91.5.1927 |
| Citation | Foster JW, et al. (1994) An SRY-related sequence on the marsupial X chromosome: implications for the evolution of the mammalian testis-determining gene. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 91(5):1927-31 |
| abstractText | The SRY gene on the human, mouse, and marsupial Y chromosomes is the testis-determining gene that initiates male development in mammals. The SRY protein has a DNA-binding domain (high mobility group or HMG box) similar to those found in the high-mobility-group proteins. SRY is specific for the Y chromosome, but many autosomal genes have been identified that possess a similar HMG box region; those with the most closely SRY-related box regions form a gene family now referred to as SOX genes. We have identified a sequence on the marsupial X chromosome that shares homology with SRY. Sequence comparisons show near-identity with the mouse and human SOX3 gene (formerly called a3), the SOX gene which is the most closely related to SRY. We suggest here that the highly conserved X chromosome-linked SOX3 represents the ancestral SOX gene from which the sex-determining gene SRY was derived. In this model SOX3/SRY divergence and the acquisition of a testis-determining role by SRY might have preceded (and initiated) sex chromosome differentiation or, alternatively, might have been a consequence of X chromosome-Y chromosome differentiation initiated at the locus of an original sex-determining gene(s), later superseded by SRY. |
