Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (16)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Edwards, R.G.
Right arrow Articles by Beard, H. K.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Edwards, R.G.
Right arrow Articles by Beard, H. K.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Molecular Human Reproduction, Vol. 5, No. 7, 595-606, July 1999
© 1999 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology

Hypothesis: sex determination and germline formation are committed at the pronucleate stage in mammalian embryos

R.G. Edwards1 and Helen K. Beard

ESHRE Journals, Editorial Office, Moor Barns Farmhouse, Coton, Cambridge CB3 7PG, UK


   Introduction
 
Sex determination in mammals has been defined as those events that fix the nature of the germ cell and the gonad, while other processes influencing sexual form and function such as hormone action constitute sex differentiation (Austin et al., 1981Go). Such determination involves the separation of germline and soma, controlled initially by maternal genes and then by the zygotic genome after fertilization and early cleavage (Braude et al., 1988Go). A cascade of events in the genital ridge initiates the differentiation of the gonads and secondary sex characteristics. In this article, we correlate embryological and genetic evidence and propose that germline could be allocated by the 4-cell stage and regulated by oocyte polarity, controlled cleavage planes and early transcription of sex-determining genes from pronuclear stages. Subsequent steps including germline segregation in early embryos and migration of primordial germ cells, and their possible role in the initiation of . . . [Full Text of this Article]


   Germplasm and polarization of maternal transcripts in oocytes and fertilized eggs
 
Early transcription of sex-determining and other genes from pronucleate stages
Germline formation between the 1-cell stage and blastocyst
X-inactivation and early expression of sex-determining genes
The role of Oct-4 in the regulation of germline
Is sexual differentiation in the genital ridge regulated by soma or germline?

   Conclusions
 

   Notes
 

   References
 

Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Hum ReprodHome page
A. Hellani, S. Al-Hassan, A. Al-Duraihim, and S. Coskun
Y chromosome microdeletions: are they implicated in teratozoospermia?
Hum. Reprod., December 1, 2005; 20(12): 3505 - 3509.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Hum ReprodHome page
B. Dale, M. Wilding, G. Botta, M. Rasile, M. Marino, L. Di Matteo, G. De Placido, and A. Izzo
Pregnancy after cytoplasmic transfer in a couple suffering from idiopathic infertility: Case report
Hum. Reprod., July 1, 2001; 16(7): 1469 - 1472.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Hum ReprodHome page
N.R. Stoddart and S.D. Fleming
Orientation of the first polar body of the oocyte at 6 or 12 o'clock during ICSI does not affect clinical outcome
Hum. Reprod., July 1, 2000; 15(7): 1580 - 1585.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Hum ReprodHome page
M. Ludwig, B. Schopper, S. Al-Hasani, and K. Diedrich
Clinical use of a pronuclear stage score following intracytoplasmic sperm injection: impact on pregnancy rates under the conditions of the German embryo protection law
Hum. Reprod., February 1, 2000; 15(2): 325 - 329.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]