Modeling thermal influence on animal growth and sex determination in reptiles: being closer to the target gives new views.
Sex Dev
; 4(1-2): 29-38, 2010.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-20130387
ABSTRACT
Many species of oviparous reptiles, including crocodilians, a majority of turtles, some lizards and the 2 closely related species of Sphenodon have been shown to display temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD). Whereas it has been demonstrated very early that TSD also occurs in natural conditions, the relationship between a time series of changing temperatures and sex ratio remains a challenging problem for reptiles. We describe how a physiological model of embryo growth, gonadal development and aromatase activity can produce outputs that mimic well TSD. We provide an enhancement of a previously published model taking into account direct effect of temperature on aromatase activity. The comparison between the original model and the new one suggests that aromatase expression is controlled by a repressor factor expressed at masculinizing temperatures rather than its enhancement at feminizing temperatures.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Reptiles
/
Temperature
/
Sex Determination Processes
/
Models, Biological
Type of study:
Prognostic_studies
Limits:
Animals
Language:
En
Journal:
Sex Dev
Journal subject:
CIENCIAS DO COMPORTAMENTO
Year:
2010
Document type:
Article