A sex-determination system is a biological system that determines the development of sexual characteristics in

an organism. Most organismsthat create their offspring using sexual reproduction have two sexes. Occasionally,
there are hermaphrodites in place of one or both sexes. There are also some species that are only one sex due
to parthenogenesis, the act of a female reproducing without fertilization.

In many species, sex determination is genetic: males and females have different alleles or even different genes that
specify their sexualmorphology. In animals this is often accompanied by chromosomal differences, generally
through combinations of XY, ZW, XO, ZO chromosomes, or haplodiploidy. The sexual differentiation is generally
triggered by a main gene (a "sex locus"), with a multitude of other genes following in adomino effect.

In other cases, sex of a fetus is determined by environmental variables (such as temperature). The details of some
sex-determination systems are not yet fully understood. Hopes for future fetal biological system analysis include
complete-reproduction-system initialized signals that can be measured during pregnancies to more accurately
determine whether a determined sex of a fetus is male, or female. Such analysis of biological systems could also
signal whether the fetus is hermaphrodite, which includes total or partial of both male and female reproduction
organs.

Some species such as various plants and fish do not have a fixed sex, and instead go through life cycles
and change sex based on genetic cues during corresponding life stages of their type. This could be due to
environmental factors such as seasons and temperature. Human fetus genitals can sometimes develop
abnormalities during maternal pregnancies due to mutations in the fetuses sex-determinism system, resulting in the
fetus becoming intersex.

Chromosomal systems[edit]
XX/XY sex chromosomes[edit]

Drosophila sex-chromosomes

Human male XY chromosomes after G-banding

Main article: XY sex-determination system

The XX/XY sex-determination system is the most familiar, as it is found in humans. The XX/XY system is found in
most other mammals, as well as some insects. In this system, most females have two of the same kind of sex
chromosome (XX), while most males have two distinct sex chromosomes (XY). The X and Y sex chromosomes are
different in shape and size from each other, unlike the rest of the chromosomes (autosomes), and are sometimes
called allosomes. In some species, such as humans, organisms remain sex indifferent for a time after they're
created; in others, however, such as fruit flies, sexual differentiation occurs as soon as the egg is fertilized.[4]

Y-centered sex determination[edit]

Some species (including humans) have a gene SRY on the Y chromosome that determines maleness. Members of
SRY-reliant species can have uncommon XY chromosomal combinations such as XXY and still live.[4] Human sex is
determined by the presence or absence of a Y chromosome with a functional SRY gene. Once the SRY gene is
activated, cells create testosterone and anti-müllerian hormone which typically ensures the development of a single,
male reproductive system.[4] In typical XX embryos, cells secrete estrogen, which drives the body toward the female
pathway.

In Y-centered sex determination, the SRY gene is the main gene in determining male characteristics, but multiple
genes are required to develop testes. In XY mice, lack of the gene DAX1 on the X chromosome results in sterility,
but in humans it causes adrenal hypoplasia congenita.[5] However, when an extra DAX1 gene is placed on the X
chromosome, the result is a female, despite the existence of SRY.[6] Even when there are normal sex chromosomes
in XX females, duplication or expression of SOX9 causes testes to develop.[7][8] Gradual sex reversal in developed
mice can also occur when the gene FOXL2 is removed from females.[9] Even though the gene DMRT1 is used by
birds as their sex locus, species who have XY chromosomes also rely upon DMRT1, contained on chromosome 9,
for sexual differentiation at some point in their formation.[4]

X-centered sex determination[edit]

Some species, such as fruit flies, use the presence of two X chromosomes to determine femaleness.[10] Species that
use the number of Xs to determine sex are nonviable with an extra X chromosome.

Other variants of XX/XY sex determination[edit]

Some fish have variants of the XY sex-determination system, as well as the regular system. For example, while
having an XY format, Xiphophorus nezahualcoyotl and X. milleri also have a second Y chromosome, known as Y',
that creates XY' females and YY' males.[11]

At least one monotreme, the platypus, presents a particular sex determination scheme that in some ways resembles
that of the ZW sex chromosomes of birds and lacks the SRY gene. The platypus has ten sex chromosomes; males
have an XYXYXYXYXY pattern while females have ten X chromosomes. Although it is an XY system, the platypus'
sex chromosomes share no homologues with eutherian sex chromosomes.[12] Instead, homologues with eutherian
sex chromosomes lie on the platypus chromosome 6, which means that the eutherian sex chromosomes were
autosomes at the time that the monotremes diverged from the therian mammals (marsupials and eutherian
mammals). However, homologues to the avian DMRT1 gene on platypus sex chromosomes X3 and X5 suggest that
it is possible the sex-determining gene for the platypus is the same one that is involved in bird sex-determination.
More research must be conducted in order to determine the exact sex determining gene of the platypus.[13]

Heredity of sex chromosomes in XO sex determination

XX/X0 sex chromosomes[edit]

In this variant of the XY system, females have two copies of the sex chromosome (XX) but males have only one
(X0). The 0 denotes the absence of a second sex chromosome. Generally in this method, the sex is determined by
amount of genes expressed across the two chromosomes. This system is observed in a number of insects,
including the grasshoppers and crickets of order Orthoptera and in cockroaches (order Blattodea). A small number
of mammals also lack a Y chromosome. These include the Amami spiny rat (Tokudaia osimensis) and the
Tokunoshima spiny rat (Tokudaia tokunoshimensis) and Sorex araneus, a shrew species. Transcaucasian mole
voles (Ellobius lutescens) also have a form of XO determination, in which both sexes lack a second sex
chromosome.[6] The mechanism of sex determination is not yet understood.[14]

The nematode C. elegans is male with one sex chromosome (X0); with a pair of chromosomes (XX) it is a
hermaphrodite.[15] Its main sex gene is XOL, which encodes XOL-1 and also controls the expression of the genes
TRA-2 and HER-1. These genes reduce male gene activation and increase it, respectively.[16]
ZW sex chromosomes[edit]
Main article: ZW sex-determination system

The ZW sex-determination system is found in birds, some reptiles, and some insects and other organisms. The
ZW sex-determination system is reversed compared to the XY system: females have two different kinds
of chromosomes (ZW), and males have two of the same kind of chromosomes (ZZ). In the chicken, this was found
to be dependent on the expression of DMRT1.[17] In birds, the genes FET1 and ASW are found on the W
chromosome for females, similar to how the Y chromosome contains SRY.[4] However, not all species depend upon
the W for their sex. For example, there are moths and butterflies that are ZW, but some have been found female
with ZO, as well as female with ZZW.[15]Also, while mammals deactivate one of their extra X chromosomes when
female, it appears that in the case of Lepidoptera, the males produce double the normal amount of enzymes, due to
having two Z's.[15] Because the use of ZW sex determination is varied, it is still unknown how exactly most species
determine their sex.[15] However, reportedly, the silkworm Bombyx mori uses a single female-specific piRNA as the
primary determiner of sex.[18] Despite the similarities between the ZW and XY systems, these sex chromosomes
evolved separately. In the case of the chicken, their Z chromosome is more similar to humans' autosome 9.[19] The
chicken's Z chromosome also seems to be related to the X chromosome of the platypus.[20] When a ZW species,
such as the Komodo dragon, reproduces parthenogenetically, usually only males are produced. This is due to the
fact that the haploid eggs double their chromosomes, resulting in ZZ or WW. The ZZ become males, but the WW
are not viable and are not brought to term.[21]

UV sex chromosomes[edit]
In some Bryophyte and some algae species, the gametophyte stage of the life cycle, rather than being
hermaphrodite, occurs as separate male or female individuals that produce male and female gametes respectively.
When meiosis occurs in the sporophyte generation of the life cycle, the sex chromosomes known as U and V assort
in spores that carry either the U chromosome and give rise to female gametophytes, or the V chromosome and give
rise to male gametophytes.[22][23]

Haplodiploid sex chromosomes

Haplodiploidy[edit]
Main article: Haplodiploidy

Haplodiploidy is found in insects belonging to Hymenoptera, such as ants and bees. Unfertilized eggs develop
into haploid individuals, which are the males. Diploid individuals are generally female but may be sterile males.
Males cannot have sons or fathers. If a queen bee mates with one drone, her daughters share ¾ of their genes with
each other, not ½ as in the XY and ZW systems. This may be significant for the development of eusociality, as it
increases the significance of kin selection, but it is debated.[24] Most females in the Hymenoptera order can decide
the sex of their offspring by holding received sperm in their spermatheca and either releasing it into their oviduct or
not. This allows them to create more workers, depending on the status of the colony.[25]

Environmental systems[edit]
All alligators determine the sex of their offspring by the temperature of the nest.

Temperature-dependent[edit]
Main article: Temperature-dependent sex determination

Many other sex-determination systems exist. In some species of reptiles, including alligators, some turtles, and
the tuatara, sex is determined by the temperature at which the egg is incubated during a temperature-sensitive
period. There are no examples of temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD) in birds. Megapodes had
formerly been thought to exhibit this phenomenon, but were found to actually have different temperature-dependent
embryo mortality rates for each sex.[26] For some species with TSD, sex determination is achieved by exposure to
hotter temperatures resulting in the offspring being one sex and cooler temperatures resulting in the other. This type
of TSD is called Pattern I. For others species using TSD, it is exposure to temperatures on both extremes that
results in offspring of one sex, and exposure to moderate temperatures that results in offspring of the opposite sex,
called Pattern II TSD. The specific temperatures required to produce each sex are known as the female-promoting
temperature and the male-promoting temperature.[27] When the temperature stays near the threshold during the
temperature sensitive period, the sex ratio is varied between the two sexes.[28] Some species' temperature standards
are based on when a particular enzyme is created. These species that rely upon temperature for their sex
determination do not have the SRY gene, but have other genes such as DAX1, DMRT1, and SOX9 that are
expressed or not expressed depending on the temperature.[27] The sex of some species, such as the Nile
tilapia, Australian skink lizard, and Australian dragon lizard, is initially determined by chromosomes, but can later be
changed by the temperature of incubation.[11]

It is unknown how exactly temperature-dependent sex determination evolved.[29] It could have evolved through
certain sexes being more suited to certain areas that fit the temperature requirements. For example, a warmer area
could be more suitable for nesting, so more females are produced to increase the amount that nest next
season.[29]Environmental sex determination preceded the genetically determined systems of birds and mammals; it
is thought that a temperature-dependent amniote was the common ancestor of amniotes with sex chromosomes.[30]