Genetics have found a new factor that determines the sex of the child
Scientists from Melbourne working at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute found A new factor that determines the sex of the unborn child at the moment of conception.
Genetics have tried to study the forces that affect the activity of genes at the time of sex determination (this happens when the male and female germ cells merge).
Gender is determined by the composition of the chromosomes at the time of conception. XX - female germ, XY - male.
The male Y chromosome carries a special critical gene, which is named SRY, and it, in turn, directly affects another gene, SOX9. If this interaction is not disturbed, then the boy is born, who already in the earliest periods generates testicular patterns in the embryo.
The authors of the study found that the main thing in this chain is SOX9, and with its weakness and instability the conception of a boy does not occur. The results of the study have already been published in Nature Communications.
During the study, scientists were able to detect patients with the initial set of the twentieth century, but they were male because the level of SOX9 was high, and therefore instead of the ovaries at the embryonic stage, the testicles were formed. They also found people with the XY kit, who, because of the low SOX9 content, formed ovaries instead of testicles.
The study is ongoing. Scientists intend to find out is it possible to artificially raise or lower the level of SOX9 to conceive a child of the right sex. There is no answer to this question yet.
