Sexually dimorphic expression of protease nexin-1 and vanin-1 in the developing mouse gonad prior to overt differentiation suggests a role in mammalian sexual development
S. Grimmond et al., Sexually dimorphic expression of protease nexin-1 and vanin-1 in the developing mouse gonad prior to overt differentiation suggests a role in mammalian sexual development, HUM MOL GEN, 9(10), 2000, pp. 1553-1560
The mammalian sex-determining pathway is controlled by the presence or abse
nce of SRY expression in the embryonic gonad. Expression of SRY in males is
believed to initiate a pathway of gene expression resulting in testis deve
lopment. In the absence of SRY, ovary development ensues. Several genes hav
e now been placed in this pathway but our understanding of it is far from c
omplete and several functional classes of protein appear to be absent. Sex-
determining genes frequently exhibit sexually dimorphic patterns of express
ion in the developing gonad both before and after overt differentiation of
the testis or ovary. In order to identify additional sex-determining or gon
adal differentiation genes we have examined gene expression in the developi
ng gonads of the mouse using cDNA microarrays constructed from a normalized
urogenital ridge library. We screened for genes exhibiting sexually dimorp
hic patterns of expression in the gonad at 12.5 and 13.5 days post-coitum,
after overt gonad differentiation, by comparing complex cDNA probes derived
from male and female gonadal tissue at these stages on microarrays. Using
in situ hybridization analysis we show here that two genes identified by th
is screen, protease nexin-1 (Pn-1) and vanin-1 (Vnn1), exhibit male-specifi
c expression prior to overt gonadal differentiation and are detected in the
somatic portion of the developing gonad, suggesting a possible direct link
to the testis-determining pathway for both genes.