The origin and evolution of mammalian sex determination; how is marsupial male determined?

为了了解有袋类雄性是如何被遗传决定的，我们研究了雄性决定基因SRY的分子进化和功能，并通过转录组分析鉴定了有袋类中睾丸表达的基因。根据分子进化和生化分析，有袋动物(沙袋鼠、考拉等)的SRY序列与真兽类(人、鼠等)的SRY序列相比没有保存得很好，但其功能与真兽类相似。这项研究有力地表明，有袋类雄性决定基因也是SRY。

To understand how marsupial male can be genetically determined, we have investigated molecular evolution and function of male determining gene SRY, and identified testis-expressed genes in marsupials by transcriptome analyses. Based on the molecular evolutionary and biochemical analyses, marsupial (wallabies, koalas and so on) SRY sequences are not conserved well compared to eutherian (humans, mice and so on) SRY, but the function of marsupial SRY is similar to eutherians. This study strongly suggests that marsupial male determining gene is also SRY.