title: Testatin transgenic and knockout mice exhibit normal sex-differentiation.
abstract: Testatin is identified as a member of the Cystatin family and expressed in germ cells and somatic cells in reproductive tissues. Testatin transcription detectable in males and females at 9.5 days post coitum, before sex-differentiation, is up-regulated just after the onset of sry expression in the male gonads, while is down-regulated to undetectable levels in the female gonads. These expression patterns suggest that Testatin might have some roles in sex-differentiation. To address Testatin function in sex-differentiation, we analyzed the effects of ectopic-expression in females and null-expression in males with testatin transgenic and knockout mice. In the transgenic females, testatin expression was constitutively elevated from embryonic gonad to adult ovary, and its expression was as high as the wild-type male gonads. However, both types of mice were fertile and did not exhibit detectable abnormalities. This suggests that the decrease of endogenous testatin in female gonad is not critical, and the increase of testatin in male gonad is dispensable for sex-differentiation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Development and Differentiation, Institute for Frontier Medical Sciences, Kyoto University, 53 Kawahara, Shogoin, Sakyo, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan. khase@frontier.kyoto-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Kouichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hasegawa
authors.forename: Shinichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chuma
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tada
authors.forename: Takayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sakurai
authors.forename: Masaru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tamura
authors.forename: Hirofumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Suemori
authors.forename: Norio
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nakatsuji
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D018387:Codon, Initiator; D015891:Cystatins / Q000235:genetics*; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000378:metabolism; D015536:Down-Regulation; D005091:Exons; D005260:Female; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D005838:Genotype; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D008957:Models, Genetic; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D010053:Ovary / Q000378:metabolism; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012733:Sex Differentiation; D013091:Spermatogenesis; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000378:metabolism; D013737:Testis / Q000378:metabolism; D013997:Time Factors; D015854:Up-Regulation
chemical_list: D018387:Codon, Initiator; C116163:Cst9 protein, mouse; D015891:Cystatins; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D012333:RNA, Messenger