villalba at twain.oit.umass.edu (Constanza A Villalba) wrote:
> Can anyone tell me if the mechanism for sexual differentiation in
>avian development is understood. I know that males are the homogametic
>sex, and that they are the default sex, but is there something analogous
>to the SRY gene in mammals. I am particularly interested in how sexual
>differentiaition of the avian brain comes about.
> Thanks for any input.
>
i haven't been keeping up with the sry story, but as to your second
question, that of differentiation of the avian brain, it is pretty clear
that all neural sexual dimorphism is a product of circulating steroids
(ie a secondary effect from sexual differentiation)
the best model is probably zebra finch for songbirds. i believe sarah
bottjer has done some good work, along with perhaps anold, wingfield, and
ball.
good luck
