Gene switch turns adult ovaries into testis

[pebbles]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091210125546.htm

in mice at least...
Just thought I'd mention it. I'm not sure if the transfiguration also applied to the support cells aswell that produce testosterone.

Edit:
To clear up what I said a second ago yes the modified ovo-testis did produce testosterone

"We were surprised by the results," says Treier, "We expected the mice to stop producing oocytes, but what happened was much more dramatic: somatic cells which support the developing egg took on the characteristics of the cells which usually support developing sperm, and the gender-specific hormone-producing cells also switched from a female to a male cell type."

[Miniar]

.... O.O!...

That is so cool!

Even without the "practical possibilities"..

[heatherrose]

Damn...just damn.

[Silver]

That's great. Fingers crossed, right?

[Carson]

This is awesome!

[Miniar]

Maybe I won't get rid of mine just yet.. after all...

I'm still going "O.O" at this...
I mean.. This + the bunny thing... and who knows... in 5-15 years.. maybe there'll be a viable alternative for the FTM SRS!
You know.. one that has actual "results" Worth having!

[Carson]

Maybe I won't get rid of mine just yet.. after all...

I'm still going "O.O" at this...
I mean.. This + the bunny thing... and who knows... in 5-15 years.. maybe there'll be a viable alternative for the FTM SRS!
You know.. one that has actual "results" Worth having!

that's pretty much what I was thinking, I think it will be at least a decade though.

My only concern is... do your ovaries have to be fertile? because after 10-15 years of T they might not be....

[Alyx.]

o.o

Do you think it might be possible to do backwards?

[Carson]

o.o

Do you think it might be possible to do backwards?

judging by what the article says , with THIS technology I don't think so because they switch off a very particular autosome that makes the ovary switch essentially from female to male. It would probably take a lot more research to find the equivalent to make the opposite switch.

[Alyx.]

judging by what the article says , with THIS technology I don't think so because they switch off a very particular autosome that makes the ovary switch essentially from female to male. It would probably take a lot more research to find the equivalent to make the opposite switch.

Aww... I guess that's the response I was expecting, though...

I suppose I'll get rid of the boys then.

[pebbles]

judging by what the article says , with THIS technology I don't think so because they switch off a very particular autosome that makes the ovary switch essentially from female to male. It would probably take a lot more research to find the equivalent to make the opposite switch.

We probably could turn the gene on however it's unknown if the relationship is symmetrical and once differentiation down this pathway from Female>Male has taken place if it can be reversed.

A different experiment would be required to test it the hypothesis.

I don't personally know about the fertility thing I'm not sure how testosterone influences those companion cells and they are the ones that need to have this gene silenced. again a different experiment would be needed to test the hypothesis.

[Dana Lane]

I saw this and thought of you guys right off the bat! This could be totally awesome! I'm wondering if they can do a different switch and turn my testicles into ovaries!

[Radar]

This + the bunny thing... and who knows... in 5-15 years.. maybe there'll be a viable alternative for the FTM SRS!
You know.. one that has actual "results" Worth having!

This is just the beginning of this research and it's a huge jump and timeline from mice to humans. There are still many DNA/gene results in mice that have failed in humans or scientists don't even know how it can be applied to humans. Science has gone a long, long way, but DNA & gene issues are in it's infancy. I'm thinking it will take longer than 5-15 years. Still, this is awesome!

[notyouraverageguy]

Awesome to hear something's coming along... what were the means of the research though?

*fingers crossed* hoping for the best.

[Lachlann]

This is just the beginning of this research and it's a huge jump and timeline from mice to humans. There are still many DNA/gene results in mice that have failed in humans or scientists don't even know how it can be applied to humans. Science has gone a long, long way, but DNA & gene issues are in it's infancy. I'm thinking it will take longer than 5-15 years. Still, this is awesome!

We'll have to see. Anything external is pretty hard to do, but anything internal has been having the most promising results.

Technology advances at a really quick rate, as long as people can overcome the problems quickly, though.

[Myself]

wow.. you guys can turn all men soon! I mean.. even more all men ^^

[LordKAT]

but not to outward appearances. the shots are only thing that wold go

[Radar]

but not to outward appearances. the shots are only thing that wold go

True. I also wonder about sperm. Even if sperm could develop it would probably be useless since they would be where the ovaries are. The internal body temperature would kill them. Still, no shots work for me.

[Alyssa M.]

These findings will have wide-ranging implications for reproductive medicine and may, for instance, help to treat sex differentiation disorders in children, for example where XY individuals develop as females or XX as males, and understand the masculinising effects of menopause on some women.

O RLY?

Funny, that seems to be the opposite of what most of us here were thinking ....

[Alyx.]

True. I also wonder about sperm. Even if sperm could develop it would probably be useless since they would be where the ovaries are. The internal body temperature would kill them. Still, no shots work for me.

Well, that's where surgery would come into play.