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Telling Boys From Girls
"These findings suggest that WNT-4 influences the sex determination pathway at each step of the way," says Eric Vilain, M.D., lead author of the study. "We discovered that when the amount of gene fluctuates even slightly at any stage in the genetic blueprint, it changes the embryo from male to female." Dr. Vilain and colleagues believe their findings will lead to valuable diagnostic information for doctors who must make decisions about a newborn's gender. In addition, parents who have already had one child with ambiguous genitalia may be able to have subsequent fetuses tested for the condition and possibly even treated while still in the womb. "Our findings suggest that clinicians could identify the WNT-4 duplication prenatally. If this proves true, in the future we may be able to correct the fetus in the womb and restore the embryo to its original male status."
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Copyright
2008, Chennai Interactive
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Investigators from UCLA have identified a gene that they believe plays a major role in the development of ambiguous genitalia in newborns. The gene, WNT-4, appears to influence the developing gender of the fetus when it occurs twice rather than once on the chromosome. 
According to researchers, genital malformations occur more often than people think. Mild cases involving undescended testes or an enlarged clitoris occur in about 1 percent of all births, affecting about 3 million people. More severe cases, in which the malformations are often so great that doctors have a hard time telling new parents whether they have had a boy or girl, are thought to occur in about 1 out of every 3,000 births.
