Hostname: page-component-669899f699-tzmfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-27T11:05:26.547Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Y-chromosomal and other factors in the development of testis size in mice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 April 2009

Suzan E. Hunt  and
Ursula Mittwoch
Suzan E. Hunt
Affiliation:
Department of Genetics and Biometry, University College London, Wolfson House, 4 Stephenson Way, London NW1 2HE
Ursula Mittwoch*
Affiliation:
Department of Genetics and Biometry, University College London, Wolfson House, 4 Stephenson Way, London NW1 2HE
*
* Corresponding author
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Testis size was investigated in two inbred strains of mice, BALB/c/Ola and CBA/Gr, at different ages. BALB/c mice were found to have the larger testes from day 14 of embryonic development onwards. Body weights of the two strains differed to a lesser extent. The differences in testis weights were analysed post-natally at 2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks in the two strains, F1s, F2s and backcrosses. Testis size was found to be affected by the origin of the Y chromosome, the X chromosome, the autosomes (and/or pseudoautosomal regions) and by maternal factors. At 8 weeks of age, the Y-chromosomal effect was at its strongest, and the X-chromosomal effect was at its weakest, while the maternal effect had vanished. It is postulated that non-Y-chromosomal factors which modify testis size may affect the gonads in both sexes. The possibility is discussed that loci affecting gonad size may be identical with testis-determining factors.

Type
Research Article
Information
Genetics Research , Volume 50 , Issue 3 , December 1987 , pp. 205 - 211
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

References

Burgoyne, P. S. (1982). Genetic homology and crossing over in the X and Y chromosomes of mammals. Human Genetics 61, 85–90.Google Scholar
Diamond, J. M. (1986). Variation in human testis size. Nature 320, 488–489.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eicher, E. M., Washburn, L. L., Whitney, J. B. III & Morrow, K. E. (1982). Mus poschiavinus Y chromosome in the C57BL/6J murine genome causes sex reversal. Science 217, 535–537.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hayward, P. & Shire, J. G. M. (1974). Y chromosome effect on adult testis size. Nature 250, 499–500.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Herrick, C. S. & Wolfe, H. G. (1977). Effect of the Y-chromosome on testes size in the mouse (Mus musculus). Genetics 86, s 27.Google Scholar
Hunt, S. E. (1986). Gonadal growth in two inbred strains in mice and the effect of gossypol on males. Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, University of London.Google Scholar
Islam, A. B. M., Hill, W. G. & Land, R. B. (1976). Ovulation rate of lines of mice selected for testis weight. Genetical Research 27, 23–32.Google Scholar
Krzanowska, H. (1971). Influence of Y chromosome on fertility in mice. In Edinburgh Symposium on the Genetics of the Spermatozoon (ed. Beatly, R. A. and S., Gluecksohn-Walsh), pp. 370–386. Edinburgh; the University.Google Scholar
Land, R. B. (1973). The expression of female sex-limited characters in the male. Nature 241, 208–209.Google Scholar
Mittwoch, U. (1973). Genetics of Sex Differentiation. New York: Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mittwoch, U. (1986). Males, females and hermaphrodites. Annals of Human Genetics 50, 103–121.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mittwoch, U. & Buehr, M. L. (1973). Gonadal growth in embryos of Sex reversed mice. Differentiation 1, 219–224.Google Scholar
Mittwoch, U., Mahadevaiah, S. & Setterfield, L. A. (1984). Chromosomal anomalies that cause male sterility in the mouse also reduce ovary size. Genetical Research 44, 219–224.Google Scholar
Searle, A. G. & Beechey, C. V. (1974). Sperm count, egg-fertilisation and dominant lethality after X-irradiation. Mutation Research 22, 63–72.Google Scholar
Shire, J. G. M. & Bartke, A. (1972). Strain differences in testicular weight and spermatogenesis with special reference to C57BL/10J and DBA/2J mice. The Journal of Endocrinology 55, 163–171.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Short, R. V. (1984). Testis size, ovulation rate, and breast cancer. In One Medicine (ed. Ryder, O. A. and Boyd, M. L.), pp. 32–44. Berlin: Springer Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stewart, A. D. (1983). The role of the Y chromosome in mammalian sexual differentiation. In Development in Mammals (ed. Johnson, M. H.), vol. 5, pp. 321–367. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Washburn, L. L. & Eicher, E. M. (1983). Sex reversal in XY mice caused by dominant mutation on chromosome 17. Nature 303, 338–340.Google Scholar
Wilkie, D., Evans, I. H., Egilsson, V., Diala, E. S. & Collier, D. (1983). Mitochondria, cell surface, and carcinogenesis. International Review of Cytology, Suppl. 15, 157–189.Google Scholar