SEX DETERMINATION AND

SEX
CHROMOSOMES

• Name – pranshu
• Msc 1st year
DISCOVERY OF SEX
CHROMOSOME
• H.Henking (1891) While studying spermatogenesis of
Wasp noted a particular nuclear structure. Half of the
sperm receives this structure & half did not. He did not
speculate on the significance of this body but called it
"X-body".
• VC.E. McClung(1902) Made extensive observations of
spermatogenesis in Grasshopper & suggested that "X-
body" was involved in determination of sex. He
reported that somatic cells of female grasshopper
contains 24 chromosomes & male have 23
chromosomes.
• E.B. Wilson(1905) Noted that females of Protenor have
7 pairs of chromosome & male have 6 & an unpaired
 STRUCTURE OF X-CHROMOSOME
• •The X & Y chromosome exhibit structural
differences.
• Cytological study show that -
• X-chromosome of most organism are straight
rod like & comparatively longer than Y-
chromosome.
• X have large euchromatin and small amount
of heterochromatin. Euchromatin have large
amount of DNA & hence much genetic
information. Y- chromosome contain small
euchromatin & large heterochromatin hence
Anatomy of the Y Chromosome
• Pseudoautosomal regions
• (PAR1 and PAR2)
• 5% of the chromosome
• Contains genes shared with
• X chromosome
• Male specific region (MSY)
• 95% of the chromosome
• Contains majority of genes including SRY and
AZF (needed for sperm production)
SEX
DETERMINATION
IN HUMANS

• In humans sex is determined by a dominant

effect of the SRY gene on the Y
chromosome;
TYPES OF SEX
CHROMOSOMAL
MECHANISM OF SEX
DETERMINATION
Heterogametic
Males
XX-XO Type
XX-XY Type
Heterogametic
Females
ZO-ZZ System
ZW_ZZ
System
XX-XO
SYSTEM
XX-XO SYSTEM
Plants - Vallisneria & insects of
order Hemiptera & Orthptera
female have 2 X-
Chromosomes(XX) and male
have only one X-
Chromosomes(XO).
Male produce two types of
sperms half with X & half
without X.
The presence of one unpaired
X-Chromosomes determine the
masculine sex.
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XX-XY
TYPE
Found in mammals including
humans, insects like
Drosophila & in certain
angiospermic plants
Melandrium, Humulus,
Coccinia Indica etc. .
Female have 2 homomorphic
X-Chromosomes in their body
& produce same kind of egg.
Male possess one X & one Y
chromosome (XY). So two
kinds of sperms are
produced.
The sex of the embryo
depends upon the kind of
sperm.
Sex Determination
in
Drosophila
X
Drosophila also have X and Y
chromosomes, with XX female and
XY male.
However, Drosophila don't use the SRY
gene to determine sex.
Instead, they use the ratio of X's to sets
of autosomes.
1 X plus 2 sets of autosomes is a normal
diploid male.
2 X's plus 2 sets of autosomes is a
diploid female.
The difference between sex
determination mechanisms comes in the
odd cases:
-an XXY individual has a Y, so is a male
mammal. However, 2
X's plus 2 sets of autosomes makes it a
female Drosophila.
---an XO individual (i.e. only 1 X, no other
sex chromosomes, but otherwise diploid)
is a female mammal (no Y) but a male
GENIC BALANCE IN DROSOPHILA
• *When geneticist Calvin Bridges, working with Drosophila, crossed a
triploid (3n) female with a normal male, he observed many
combinations of autosomes and sex chromosomes in the offspring.
• From his results, Bridges suggested in 1921 that sex in Drosophila is
determined by the balance between (ratio of autosomal alleles that
favor maleness and alleles on the X chromosomes That favor
femaleness. He calculated a ratio of X chromosomes to autosomal
sets to see if this ratio would predict the sex of a fly. An autosomal
set (A) in Drosophila consists of one chromosome from each
autosomal pair, or three chromosomes. (An autosomal set in human
beings consists of twenty-two chromosomes.)
MALE HAPLOIDY OR HAPLODIPLOIDY
MECHANISM
• • Particularly common in insects as bees, ants, saw
flies & wasps.
• In these insects fertilized egg develop into diploid
female & unfertilized ones into haploid male.
• Meiosis is normal in females but crossing over and
reductional division fail to occur during
spermatogenesis in male due to haploidy.
• Example - see next slide
 EXAMPLE OF MALE HAPLOIDY OR
HAPLODIPLOIDY
MECHANISM
• MECHANISM
• v Honey bee Queen (2n=32)
can produce two types of egg.
v Fertilized egg (Diploid
zygote) having 32 chromosome
• Unfertilized egg (haploid
zygote) having 16 chromosome
develops into a male.
• The diploid zygote can
differentiate into either
workers (sterile) & queens
(fertile) depending on the diet
they consumed during
development.
SINGLE GENE CONTROL OF SEX
• Single genes are found to be responsible for the
determination or expression of sex in
Chlamydomonas, Neurospora, Yeast, Asparagus,
maize, Drosophila.
 MONOGENIC
SEX
DETERMINATIO
N IN MAIZE
#MAIZE is a monoecious plant
with male inflorescence (tassel)
and female inflorescence (silk)
located on the same plant.
#A gene called tassel seeds (ts)
convert the tassel into seed
bearing inflorescence.
#Another gene silkless(k) is
responsible for absence of silk.
#A plant with genotype sk/sk will
be effectively a male plant &
plant with genotype ts/ts will be
effectively a female plant. So the
individual single geners sk/ts can
impose bisexuality in maize.
MONOGENIC SEX DETERMINATION IN
DROSOPHILA

In Drosophila a transformer gene (tra) has

been recoginsed.
Which when present in homozygous condition
(tra/tra) transforms a female fly into a sterile
male. But does not act upon normal male
individual.
Therefore XX female with tra/tra genotype will
be sterile male but
XX male with tra/tra genotype will still a
normal male.
Sex Linked Traits
• Sex linked inheritance is traits carried in either the X or the Y
chromosome.
• V A trait that is due to genes present on the X chromosome is more
likely to be expressed in males as they have only one X
chromosome.
• Y The presence of two X chromosomes in females can suppress its
expression when one of them has the genes for the trait and the
other does not.
• V X linked traits fall under many categories like recessive, dominant
and co-dominant which influence their expression in members of
both the sexes.
• V A trait due to a gene in the Y chromosome will only show in males
and not in females.
Examples of sex linked traits
1. Red Green Colour blindness
2. Hemophilia
3. V Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
4. Hairy Ears (Y chromosome)
Sex Limited Traits
• Sex-limited genes are genes which are present in both.
• These are genes that occur in both sexes (probably on the
autosomes) but are normally expressed only in the gender
having the appropriate hormonal determiner (activator).
• Throughout the pedigree the trait appears in only one sex, but
it need NOT occur in all member of that sex.
• V The genes for the trait can be carried and transmitted by the
opposite sex although it is NOT displayed in that sex because
of anatomical or physiological differences.
Examples of sex limited traits
• The genes that control milk yield and quality in dairy cattle,
for example, are present in both bulls and cows, but their
effects are expressed only in the female cattle.
• V Beard in males
• Barred coloring in chickens normally is visible only in the
roosters.
• V Secondary hormonal development
Sex Influenced Traits
• Sex-controlled character, also called Sex-influenced Character, a
genetically controlled feature that may appear in organisms of
both sexes but is expressed to a different degree in each.
• Sex-influenced traits are autosomal traits that are influenced by
sex.
• V The character seems to act as a dominant in one sex and a
recessive in the other. Sex-controlled character, also called Sex-
influenced Character, a genetically controlled feature that may
appear in organisms of both sexes but is expressed to a different
degree in each.
• The character seems to act as a dominant in one sex and a
recessive in the
• other.
Examples of sex influenced traits
• Male Pattern Baldness
• V Length of index finger
• V Body hair
• ~ Muscle mass,
Thanku you