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Iron deficiency in pregnant mice causes XY embryos to develop with female characteristics

In mice, a lack of maternal iron impairs an iron-dependent enzyme that activates the male sex-determining gene, causing some XY embryos to develop ovaries.
By
  1. Shannon Dupont

    1. Shannon Dupont is in the Department of Cell Biology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA.

  2. Blanche Capel

    1. Blanche Capel is in the Department of Cell Biology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA.

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In the early stages of gestation, a growing embryo undergoes sex determination by initiating the formation of testes or ovaries. This process controls the development of characteristic male or female traits such as the genitalia. Writing in Nature, Okashita et al.1 shift scientists’ understanding of how this process happens. In experiments in mice, they show that factors in the cellular environment of the uterus regulate expression of the testis-determining gene, Sry, to influence the outcome of male sex determination.

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Nature 643, 45-46 (2025)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-01456-7

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Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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