Diagram of Four Isodicentric Y Chromosomes (IMAGE)
Caption
When a fertilized human egg carries an isodicentric Y chromosome, the likelihood of sex reversal (anatomic feminization) during fetal development depends on the size of the isodicentric. Diagrammed here are four different isodicentric Y chromosomes, each with two copies of the masculinizing gene SRY and two centromeres. Among these four isodicentrics, the distance between the two centromeres, and hence the size of the isodicentric, increases from left to right. The intensity of the mitotic tug of war (previous figure), and hence the likelihood of loss of the dicentric, increases in the same direction. Mitotic loss of the isodicentric in fetal gonads causes sex reversal (anatomic feminization), whose likelihood increases with the size of the isodicentric.
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Image: Tom DiCesare/Whitehead Institute
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Image credit: Tom DiCesare/Whitehead Institute
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