60秒科学:Gene Stops Ovaries from Testifying

Gene¹ Stops Ovaries from Testifying
A mouse study in the journal Cell finds that a gene in females must remain active throughout her life to keep her ovaries from turning into testes. Karen Hopkin reports

Little girls are made of sugar and spice and, according to a study published in the journal Cell, a fierce determination to maintain their girlishness. Because it seems that a single gene keeps their ovaries from turning into testes.

Scientists have long thought that the ovary is the default setting for developing sex organs. That’s because the male Y chromosome² comes equipped with a so-called sex determination gene called SRY. If SRY is missing, the gonad develops into an ovary, even if the embryo³ is male. Add SRY to a female embryo, it’ll make testes. But the new work implies that sex determination is not that simple.

Okay, buckle⁴ up. See, the SRY gene makes a male by turning on another gene called Sox9. But it turns out that females have a trump⁵ card called FOX L2. FOX L2 switches off Sox9, which lets ovaries be ovaries. The surprise is that girls have to keep the FOX L2 gene active forever. In studies of mice, if FOX L2 gets shut off, even in an adult, the ovaries will turn into testes. Which for a girl means ball game over.
 

1 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

2 chromosome   

n.染色体

参考例句：

• Chromosome material with exhibits of such behaviour is called heterochromatin.表现这种现象的染色体物质叫做异染色质。
• A segment of the chromosome may become lost,resulting in a deletion.染色体的一个片段可能会丢失，结果产生染色体的缺失。

3 embryo   

n.胚胎，萌芽的事物

参考例句：

• They are engaging in an embryo research.他们正在进行一项胚胎研究。
• The project was barely in embryo.该计划只是个雏形。

4 buckle   

n.扣子，带扣；v.把...扣住，由于压力而弯曲

参考例句：

• The two ends buckle at the back.带子两端在背后扣起来。
• She found it hard to buckle down.她很难专心做一件事情。

5 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。