Nature 359, 531 - 533 (08 October 1992); doi:10.1038/359531a0

Evolution of sex determination and the Y chromosome: SRY-related sequences in marsupials

Jamie W. Foster^*†‡, Francine E. Brennan^*, Gregory K. Hampikian^*, Peter N. Goodfellow^†‡, Andrew H. Sinclair^†‡, Robin Lovell-Badge^§, Lynne Selwood, Marilyn B. Renfree^¶, Desmond W. Cooper^# & Jennifer A. Marshall Graves^*

^*Department of Genetics and Human Variation, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria 3083, Australia
^†Human Molecular Genetics Laboratory, Imperial Cancer Research Fund, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PX, UK
^§Laboratory of Eukaryotic Molecular Genetics, Medical Research Council, National Institute for Medical Research, The Ridgeway, Mill Hill, London NW7 1AA, UK
Department of Zoology, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria 3083, Australia
^¶Department of Zoology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia
^#School of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, North Ryde, New South Wales 2109, Australia
^‡Present addresses: Department of Genetics, Cambridge University, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 3EH, UK (J.W.F. and P.N.G.); Department of Genetics, School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia (A.H.S.).

IN mammals, testis determination is under the control of the testis-determining factor borne by the Y chromosome^1,2. SRY, a gene cloned from the sex-determining region of the human Y chromosome, has been equated with the testis-determining factor in man^3–5 and mouse^6,7. We have used a human SRY probe to identify and clone related genes from the Y chromosome of two marsupial species. Comparisons of eutherian and metatherian Y-located SRY sequences suggest rapid evolution of these genes, especially outside the region encoding the DNA-binding HMG box. The SRY homologues, together with the mouse Ubely homologues⁸, are the first genes to be identified on the marsupial Y chromosome.

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