One gene keeps Mickey from turning into Minnie

[Guest LizMarie]

One gene keeps Mickey from turning into Minnie...

On the surface, it looks as if our identity as male or female is determined in the womb. The decision seems final – a genetic switch flicks towards either setting, and locks into place for the rest of our lives.

This tidy image is wrong. Two recent studies in mice have shown that the switch isn’t locked – it’s held under constant tension by two rival genes – DMRT1 and FOXL2. It’s a tug-of-war fought over sexual fate, which goes on throughout our lives. Take away either contestant, and its adversary pulls the switch to the opposite setting. Ovaries can transform into testes and vice versa, even in adults.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2011/07/20/one-gene-keeps-mickey-from-turning-into-minnie/#.VCCgNCtdX2A

[Guest Ky_Ki]

So where do I get my FOXL2 supplement lol?

[Guest KimberlyF]

Obviously there is a difference between mice and men, but I have wondered if there was a certain hormonal trigger that goes off after a bit of puberty and exposure to body specific hormones that cause the huge swing in GD in kids to those who go on to become GD adults.

[Guest LizMarie]

If they can find something that destabilizes this, it's possible.

However, please note that the research shows the changes in reproductive tissues (testes and ovaries) but not in the brain, at least not yet.

Additionally, we know that hormones alone do not swap brain structures once formed since all that testosterone later doesn't undo too much estrogen earlier. So these genes would also have to work directly against brain structures such as the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis in the hypothalamus to cause such a switch. I'm not saying that does not happen but they don't have that evidence yet so we'll have to wait and see. However, if the brain can be changed, a trans kid (or adult) then would have the theoretical option to be "fixed" to be fully in line with their birth gender or fixed the other direction to be biologically aligned with their brain gender.

It's an interesting question, to be sure!

[Guest ashleynikole]

Wow!! I'd like to stake the claim that in 50 years, they'll be able to do more than look between a baby's legs to find out if it's sex/gender and give the parents a heads up on what to watch for as the child grows and develops.

Amazed

Ashley

[VickySGV]

I hope if they find this Golden Key, that the information is not used to change ANYTHING about the small human, but rather that it help the parents and society learn to love and honor that individual for who and what they are. Then and only then can they become the wonderful, but quirky person nature has created. Man should not play God at that level.