Females battle to suppress their inner male.
Conventional wisdom holds that the ovary and testis are terminally differentiated organs in adult mammals. However, Uhlenhaut et al. (2009) now report that deletion of a single gene, Foxl2, is sufficient to induce transdifferentiation of ovary into testis in adult mice, suggesting that testicular development is actively repressed throughout the life of females.
Sinclair
Andrew
A
Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria 3052, Australia. andrew.sinclair@mcri.edu.au
Smith
Craig
C
D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D054338:Cell Transdifferentiation; D005260:Female; D000074842:Forkhead Box Protein L2; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D010053:Ovary / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D013737:Testis / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*
D000074842:Forkhead Box Protein L2; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors; C498893:Foxl2 protein, mouse