Open AccessNon-Coding Genome, Transcription Factors, and Sex Determination
Author(s) -
Françis Poulat
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
sexual development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.528
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1661-5433
pISSN - 1661-5425
DOI - 10.1159/000519725
Subject(s) - biology , transcription factor , genome , genetics , gene , transcription (linguistics) , sexual differentiation , general transcription factor , promoter , computational biology , gene expression , linguistics , philosophy
In vertebrates, gonadal sex determination is the process by which transcription factors drive the choice between the testicular and ovarian identity of undifferentiated somatic progenitors through activation of 2 different transcriptional programs. Studies in animal models suggest that sex determination always involves sex-specific transcription factors that activate or repress sex-specific genes. These transcription factors control their target genes by recognizing their regulatory elements in the non-coding genome and their binding motifs within their DNA sequence. In the last 20 years, the development of genomic approaches that allow identifying all the genomic targets of a transcription factor in eukaryotic cells gave the opportunity to globally understand the function of the nuclear proteins that control complex genetic programs. Here, the major transcription factors involved in male and female vertebrate sex determination and the genomic profiling data of mouse gonads that contributed to deciphering their transcriptional regulation role will be reviewed.