Mammalian sex determination depends on a complex interplay of signals that promote the bipotential fetal gonad to develop as either a testis or an ovary, but the details are incompletely understood. Here, we investigated whether removal of the signaling molecule retinoic acid (RA) by the degradative enzyme CYP26B1 is necessary for proper development of somatic cells of the testes. Gonadal organ culture experiments suggested that RA promotes expression of some ovarian markers and suppresses expression of some testicular markers, acting downstream of Sox9. XY Cyp26b1-null embryos, in which endogenous RA is not degraded, develop mild ovotestes, but more important, steroidogenesis is impaired and the reproductive tract feminized. Experiments involving purified gonadal cells showed that these effects are independent of germ cells and suggest the direct involvement of the orphan nuclear receptor DAX1. Our results reveal that active removal of endogenous RA is required for normal testis development in the mouse.
Keywords: CYP26B1; Dax1; ovary; retinoic acid; secondary sex determination; sex determination; steroidogenesis; testis.
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