"Human sex differentiation: From transcription factors to gender"

Amy B. Wiesniewski is an Assistant Professor of Biology at Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa. She can be contacted at amy.wisniewski@drake.eduOver the past decade, knowledge of the genetic control of human sex differentiation has greately expanded our understanding of the developmental processes needed to form a male or female. The purpose of this review is to discuss how transcription factors are relevant to such processes. Additionally, an attempt is made to relate current knowledge of these factors with gender development of subjects with intersex conditions. Finally, we discuss how information about the genetic control of sex differentiation may contribute to decisions about medical treatment of individuals with conditions of abnormal sex differentiation. Copyright (C) 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel.This work was supported by a grant from The Genentech Foundation for Growth and Development 98-33C to C.J.M., an NIH NRSA grant F32HD08544 to A.B.W. and an NIH, NCRR, GCRC grant RR00052. This work was originally presented as the 1999 Robert L. Ney Memorial Lecture at Johns Hopkins University by C.J.M