H-Y antigen and the growth of the dominant gonad.

Abstract

The evolutionary conservation of H-Y antigen in mouse and man and its expression in the heterogametic sex regardless of whether this is male or female must mean that the antigen is associated with a common denominator underlying the development of mammalian testes and avian ovaries. One such common denominator is apparently an enhanced growth rate of the dominant heterogametic gonad at a critical stage of its development.