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The regulation of gonadal somatic cell differentiation during sex determination in mice

CEN Chang-Huo¹, CHEN Min², JIANG Lin¹, HOU Xiao-Hui¹, GAO Fei^2,3,*

¹Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi 563000, China；²State Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China；³3University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

Abstract

In mammals, the gonad is composed of germ cells and somatic cells. The gonads have the potential of bidirectional differentiation before sex determination. The differentiation of somatic cells in the gonad determines the development of testis or ovary, and this process is regulated by many factors. SRY, SOX9, SOX3, SOX8, SOX10, FGF9/FGFR2, PGD2, AMH, and DMRT1 are involved in the differentiation of testis. By contrast, FOXL2, CTNNB1, RSPO1, WNT4, Follistatin, ERα/β, and BMP2 play important roles in ovary development. If these molecular regulatory networks are damaged by endogenous or exogenous factors, disorders of sex differentiation, even sex reversal, will occur. In this review, the regulation of somatic cell fate during gonad primordium formation and sex determination in mouse model was discussed.

Key words: sex differentiation; sex determination; germ cells; somatic cells

Received: 2019-07-14　　Accepted: 2019-09-25

Corresponding author: 高飞　　E-mail: gaof@ioz.ac.cn

DOI: 10.13294/j.aps.2019.0083

Citing This Article：

CEN Chang-Huo, CHEN Min, JIANG Lin, HOU Xiao-Hui, GAO Fei. The regulation of gonadal somatic cell differentiation during sex determination in mice. Acta Physiol Sin 2020; 72 (1): 20-30 (in Chinese with English abstract).