From Nature:
Catherine Dulac and her colleagues at Harvard University genetically engineered female mice to lack a gene called TRPC2. This gene is essential for the functioning of a pheromone-sensing organ in the nose called the vomeronasal organ.
Without the gene, female mice acted exactly like males - even towards male mice - complete with mounting, pelvic thrusts and the ultrasound calls that males use to attract a mate.
Watch the film clip below.
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least in mice, that is: rendering the
href="http://neuro.fsu.edu/%7Emmered/index.htm">vomeronasal
organ inactive by deleting the gene
href="http://www.informatics.jax.org/searches/accession_report.cgi?id=MGI%3A109527">TRPC2
(transient receptor potential cation channel, subfamily C,…
How will the homophobes greet this latest article in Nature describing a pheromone "switch" in mice that when inactivated - even in adult mice - appears to change their sexual orientation?
Briefly let's go over what the researchers found.
Mice that lacked a gene named Trpc, responsible for encoding…
Females have a natural preference for mating with dominant males, because this confers a genetic advantage upon the offspring produced. When selecting a mate, animals rely on chemical cues called pheromones, which relay information about the social status and genetic health of a potential mate.…
DELETION of a single gene switches the sexual orientation of female mice, causing them to engage in sexual behaviour that is typical of males. Korean researchers found that deleting the appropriately named FucM gene, which encodes an enzyme called fucose mutarotase, causes masculinization of the…
Mo, your posts are so educational that we may have to pay you tuition.
Bah...no corset, no crop, no strap-on...Google, you have failed me once again.
;)
Just kidding, interesting article. I would have suspected it would have been at least a little more complicated to trigger such behavior.