Developmental and sexual dimorphic atlas of the prenatal mouse external genitalia at the single-cell level.

ABSTRACT: Birth defects of the external genitalia are among the most common in the world. Proper formation of the external genitalia requires a highly orchestrated process that involves special cell populations and sexually dimorphic hormone signaling. It is clear what the end result of the sexually dimorphic development is (a penis in the male versus clitoris in the female); however, the cell populations involved in the process remain poorly defined. Here, we used single-cell messenger RNA sequencing in mouse embryos to uncover the dynamic changes in cell populations in the external genitalia during the critical morphogenetic window. We found that overall, male and female external genitalia are largely composed of the same core cellular components. At the bipotential stage of development (embryonic

SUBMITTER: Amato CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8237666 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature