Production of sperm and androgens is the main function of the testis. This depends on
normal development of both testicular somatic cells and germ cells. A genetic program …

Arguably the most defining moment in our lives is fertilization, the point at which we inherit
either an X or a Y chromosome from our father. The profoundly different journeys of male …

The application of human embryonic stem (ES) cells in medicine and biology has an
inherent reliance on understanding the starting cell population. Human ES cells differ from …

During meiosis, the homologous chromosomes pair and recombine. An evolutionarily
conserved protein structure, the synaptonemal complex (SC), is located along the paired …

DAX-1 (NR0B1) and SF-1 (NR5A1) are two nuclear receptor transcription factors that play a
key role in human adrenal and reproductive development. Loss of DAX-1 function is …

The world's population is increasing at an alarming rate and is projected to reach nine billion
by 2050. Despite this, 15% of couples world-wide remain childless because of infertility. Few …

A newborn infant with ambiguous genitalia is a complex enough problem to unravel without
any further clouding by confusing terms. The nomenclature 'intersex','hermaphrodite'and …

It is well established that somatic genomic changes can influence phenotypes in cancer, but
the role of adaptive changes in developmental disorders is less well understood. Here we …

During mammalian embryonic development, the ovaries and testes develop from somatic
cells of the urogenital ridges as indifferent gonads, harbouring primordial germ cells that …

Sex-determining mechanisms are highly variable between phyla. Only one example has
been found in which structurally and functionally related genes control sex determination in …