Reversal of sex in females of genotype WW in the axolotl (Siredon or Ambystoma mexicanum) and its bearing upon the role of the Z chromosomes in the development of the testis
✍ Scribed by Humphrey, R. R.
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1948
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 716 KB
- Volume
- 109
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0022-104X
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✦ Synopsis
The finding that asolotl females, ivl1en c~spcrimeiitally reversed to males and mated with normal females, produced offspring with a ratio of tlirce females to one male, indicatcd that in this salamander the female rather than the male must be digametic or lieterozygous for s e s (genotype ZM7) aiid that tlie offspring of genotype TVTT cspected fi-om ;I mating of two such lieteroxpgous animals must be viablc females. These females wcrc identified tlirough their inability to prodncc male offspring when mated with normal males (ZZ), and were found, a s expected, to constitute approsiniately one-third of all the females in the offspring of the reversed animals mentioiled above (Humphrey, '45).
The absence of distinguishable pliysical differences hetween females of the normal genotype (ZW) and those lacking the Z chromosome (WW) suggested that the Z and W cliromosonies in the axolotl might be identical cxcept for a
The author makes grateful acknowledgment of the kindness of Dr. Gerlisrd Fankhauser of Princeton University, who read the original manuscript of this paper and offered helpful criticism and suggestions for its improretnent.