Reduced Activity of SRY and its Target Enhancer Sox9-TESCO in a Mouse Species with X∗Y Sex Reversal

Abstract

In most eutherian mammals, sex determination is governed by the Y-linked gene Sry, but in African pygmy mice Mus minutoides, Sry action is overridden by a variant X chromosome (X∗), yielding X∗Y females. We hypothesized that X∗Y sex reversal may be underpinned not only by neomorphic X chromosome functionality, but also by a compromised Sry pathway. Here, we show that neither M. minutoides SRY nor its target, the Sox9-TESCO enhancer, had appreciable transcriptional activity in in vitro assays, correlating with sequence degradation compared to Mus musculus counterparts. However, M. minutoides SRY activated its cognate TESCO to a moderate degree, and can clearly engage the male pathway in M. minutoides in the wild, indicating that SRY and TESCO may have co-evolved in M. minutoides to retain function above a threshold level. We suggest that weakening of the SRY/TESCO nexus may have facilitated the rise and spread of a variant X∗ chromosome carrying female-inducing modifier gene(s).