BIO 301 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Gonadal Ridge, Allosome, Chromosome
Document Summary
Sex: biological designation as male or female (determined by genes and chromosomes) Gender: psychological traits that differ between males and females. Each cell contains dna packaged into 46 chromosomes. Chromosomes have distinct segments called genes which code for specific traits: 100"s-1000"s of genes per chromosome, humans have ~30, 000 genes. Sry (switch for an embryo to develop as male) *monitors sex hormones, essential in masculine behavior, preference for females. After fertilization, the embryo undergoes multiple mitotic divisions and after a few weeks differentiation into distinct body parts occurs. ~6 weeks, genital ridges (undifferentiated gonads) and 2 reproductive tracts appear. Initially both male and female embryos develop a mullerian duct (female reproductive tract) and a wolffian duct (male reproductive tract) *sry causes genital ridges to become testes (higher production. The testes produce a hormone called anti-mullerian hormone (amh: diffuses into the nearby mullerian duct, causing it to degenerate.
