About this Research Topic
Sex determination, resulting in male and female sexes, is one of most fundamental and diverse developmental processes in animals. Vertebrate sex determination is of tremendous interest to developmental and evolutionary biologists. This is the system of choice for studying the cell fate decisions between the testis (male) and the ovary (female) somatic cell lineages arising from a bipotential gonad progenitor. During embryogenesis, vertebrate sex determination is usually controlled by a genetic “switch” in somatic cells, which then orchestrates the morphological events required for either testis or ovary formation. Emerging data indicate that the testis-determining genetic pathway and the ovarian-determining pathway act in a mutually antagonistic fashion. This mutual antagonism persists in the adult gonad and may explain the ability of some adult vertebrates, notably some fish species, to achieve gonadal trans-differentiation from testis to ovary and vice versa in response to environmental cues. In some species, primary sex determination is mainly controlled by temperature acting on genetic cascades. However, our understanding of the basic genetic regulatory networks and mechanisms involved in sex determination is limited. How or why these regulatory networks vary between vertebrates is also poorly understood.
The goal of this Research Topic is to explore the mechanisms involved in vertebrate sex determination and differentiation , understand the relationship between environmental cues and sex determination, as well as generate insights into different sex determination mechanisms and the forces that dictate their existence and influence their evolution. What (genetic, epigenetic and cellular) mechanisms underpin the plasticity of the system? And how is gonadal identity maintained from the embryo to the adult? Understanding the molecular mechanisms involved in vertebrate sex determination can also provide answers to the causes of human sex-reversal or disorders/differences of sex development (DSD).
The aim of this Research Topic is to gather scientific contributions (Review or Research Articles) from any groups working on sex determination. Specific topics are listed below but are not limited to:
- Genetic and environmental mechanisms governing vertebrate sex determination and differentiation
- Evolution of sex determination and/or sex chromosome evolution
- New model organisms for the study of vertebrate sex determination and differentiation
- Endocrine or metabolic disruption of sex determination
- Human Disorders/Differences in Sex Development
- Gonad Modelling using Cellular Reprogramming and Organoid Approaches
- Germ cell-somatic cell interactions during sex-determination
The goal of this Research Topic is to explore the mechanisms involved in vertebrate sex determination and differentiation , understand the relationship between environmental cues and sex determination, as well as generate insights into different sex determination mechanisms and the forces that dictate their existence and influence their evolution. What (genetic, epigenetic and cellular) mechanisms underpin the plasticity of the system? And how is gonadal identity maintained from the embryo to the adult? Understanding the molecular mechanisms involved in vertebrate sex determination can also provide answers to the causes of human sex-reversal or disorders/differences of sex development (DSD).
The aim of this Research Topic is to gather scientific contributions (Review or Research Articles) from any groups working on sex determination. Specific topics are listed below but are not limited to:
- Genetic and environmental mechanisms governing vertebrate sex determination and differentiation
- Evolution of sex determination and/or sex chromosome evolution
- New model organisms for the study of vertebrate sex determination and differentiation
- Endocrine or metabolic disruption of sex determination
- Human Disorders/Differences in Sex Development
- Gonad Modelling using Cellular Reprogramming and Organoid Approaches
- Germ cell-somatic cell interactions during sex-determination
Keywords: Testis, ovary, sex-determination, Sertoli granulosa, sex-reversal, Disorders/differences of Sex Development (DSD), Cell fate choice, bipotential, Cellular reprogramming, Gonad development
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
