TANG , Furong

Sex determination is a highly sophisticated and ordered process where both male and female gonads develop from a common bipotential gonad depending on different activated signaling pathways. XY gonads develop into a testis promoted by the SRY/SOX9 pathway, whereas XX gonads develop into an ovary through the action of the RSPO1/WNT4/ß-Catenin...

The transcription factors SRY and SOX9 and RSPO1/WNT4/β-Catenin signaling act as antagonistic pathways to drive testis and ovary development respectively, from a common gonadal primordium in mouse embryos. In this work, we took advantage of a double knockout mouse model to study gonadal development when Sox9 and Wnt4 are both mutated. We show...

Abstract Male genital development in XY mammalian fetuses is triggered by the action of hormones, including testosterone, secreted by the developing testes. Defects in this process are a cause for Differences in Sex Development (DSD), one of the most common congenital abnormalities in humans. Fetal Leydig Cells (FLC) play a central role for the...

Gonadal sex determination represents a unique model for studying cell fate decisions. However, a complete understanding of the different cell lineages forming the developing testis and ovary remains elusive. Here, we investigated the origin, specification, and subsequent sex-specific differentiation of a previously uncharacterized population of...