Masculine epigenetic sex marks of the CYP19A1/aromatase promoter in genetically male chicken embryonic gonads are resistant to estrogen-induced phenotypic sex conversion.

ABSTRACT: Sex of birds is genetically determined through inheritance of the ZW sex chromosomes (ZZ males and ZW females). Although the mechanisms of avian sex determination remains unknown, the genetic sex is experimentally reversible by in ovo exposure to exogenous estrogens (ZZ-male feminization) or aromatase inhibitors (ZW-female masculinization). Expression of various testis- and ovary-specific marker genes during the normal and reversed gonadal sex differentiation in chicken embryos has been extensively studied, but the roles of sex-specific epigenetic marks in sex differentiation are unknown. In this study, we show that a 170-nt region in the promoter of CYP19A1/aromatase, a key gene required for ovarian estrogen biosynthesis and feminization of chicken embryonic gonads, contains highly quanti

SUBMITTER: Ellis HL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3406558 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature