The role of estrogen in turtle sex determination and the effect of PCBs

Environmental Health Perspectives
D CrewsJ A McLachlan

Abstract

In the current model of vertebrate sex determination and sexual differentiation, gonadal sex is fixed at fertilization by specific chromosomes, a process known as genotypic sex determination (GSD). Only after the gonad is formed do hormones begin to exert an influence that modifies specific structures that eventually will differ the sexes. Many egg-laying reptiles do not exhibit GSD but rather depend on the temperature of the incubating egg to determine the gonadal sex of the offspring, a process termed temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD). Research on TSD indicates that sex determination in these species is fundamentally different in at least one way. Gonadal sex is not irrevocably set by the genetic composition inherited at fertilization but depends ultimately on which genes encoding for steroidogenic enzymes and hormone receptors are activated during the midtrimester of embryonic development by temperature. Incubation temperature modifies the activity as well as the temporal and spatial sequence of enzymes and hormone receptors such that sex-specific hormone milieus, created in the urogenital system of the developing embryo, determine gonad type. Estrogen is the physiologic equivalent of incubation temperature and t...Continue Reading

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Citations

May 26, 1998·Environmental Health Perspectives·L Lagadic, T Caquet
Oct 7, 2003·Environmental Health Perspectives·Carol RiceFrederick S vom Saal
Oct 23, 2008·Environmental Health Perspectives·Minerva Mercado-Feliciano, Robert M Bigsby
Dec 31, 1997·The Science of the Total Environment·P T HarrisonC D Humfrey
May 16, 2001·Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry·M B MattaR M Kocan
Aug 26, 2009·Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology. Toxicology & Pharmacology : CBP·Seungshic YumJae-Chun Ryu
Dec 18, 2007·Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety·Tarja Nakari, Sami Huhtala
Aug 6, 2004·Toxicology Letters·Amanda J Woodhouse, Gerard M Cooke
Apr 5, 2016·Chemosphere·Clare Isabel Ming-Ch'eng AdamsBirthe V Kjellerup
Nov 1, 2002·The Journal of Experimental Zoology·Hiroshi UrushitaniTaisen Iguchi
Jan 1, 2012·ISRN Toxicology·Gennaro Giordano, Lucio G Costa
Apr 17, 2008·Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology·Marte BraathenAugustine Arukwe
Jul 31, 2014·Journal of Animal Science·V Padmanabhan, A Veiga-Lopez

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