Direct evidence that the mouse sex-determining gene Sry is expressed in the somatic cells of male fetal gonads and in the germ cell line in the adult testis.
Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis shows that Sry mRNA is expressed in male fetal urogenital ridges from 12.5 day p.c. embryos, but not in enriched populations of primordial germ cells from the same embryos, indicating that Sry is expressed in the somatic cells of the embryonal gonad at the time of testis determination. We also show that, in the adult male mouse testis, Sry mRNA is expressed at high levels in meiotic and postmeiotic germ cells and, at much lower levels, also in Sertoli cells. Treatment with cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) analogs of cultured Sertoli cells from postnatal testis completely abolishes Sry mRNA expression.
Rossi
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P
Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica e Biologia Cellulare, Università degli Studi di Roma, Tor Vergata, Italy.
Dolci
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S
Albanesi
C
C
Grimaldi
P
P
Geremia
R
R
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003994:Bucladesine / Q000494:pharmacology; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D015342:DNA Probes; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression / Q000187:drug effects; D007041:Hypoxanthine Phosphoribosyltransferase / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D019009:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D012708:Sertoli Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D012732:Sex Determination Analysis; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000378:metabolism; D013737:Testis / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism
D015342:DNA Probes; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D003994:Bucladesine; D004247:DNA; D007041:Hypoxanthine Phosphoribosyltransferase; D019009:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit