{
  "abstract": "Male sex determination in mammals depends on sex-determining region Y (SRY), a transcription factor whose high-mobility group box (HMG box) binds and bends DNA to activate SOX9. The divergent N- and C-terminal domains lack sequence homology and have been dismissed as passive linkers, yet alignment-based homology cannot reveal whether they retain a hidden compositional grammar. We applied quantitative genomics to 65 full-length mammalian SRY proteins and 38 HMG-box subsequences across 75 mammals, integrating amino acid and dipeptide compositions, Shannon entropy, dominant-residue profiles, hydropathy-based n-gram spectra, longest hydropathy stretches, and cumulative proximity. The HMG box is tightly constrained: basic residues dominated, cysteine was nearly absent, entropy clustered near 4.0, polar content averaged 58.44\\%, and 25 of 38 HMG boxes shared 57.97\\% polar residues, whereas full-length SRY varied more, with rodents showing high polar and glutamine-rich profiles and cetaceans low polar content. Proximity-based clustering was more taxonomically consistent at the HMG level, while terminal regions blurred domain-level signals. Across 65 SRY proteins and 38 HMG domains, intrinsic disorder was the dominant predicted state, and a polyQ-rich rodent SRY illustrated how low-complexity repeats can produce misleading ordered predictions, underscoring the need for consensus disorder analysis in rapidly evolving intrinsically disordered regions. Cumulative proximity analysis identified \\textit{Bos taurus} and \\textit{Bos grunniens} as the only pair proximally clustered at both the full-length SRY and SRY-HMG levels, establishing multivariate proximity as a stringent criterion of compositional similarity satisfied by a single mammalian pair. These results suggest that SRY and its HMG box each carry a distinct compositional grammar, quantifiable only through alignment-independent signatures, with compositional individuality being the rule rather than the exception. These quantitative signatures provide a framework for interpreting SRY variation, assessing clinical mutations, and understanding evolutionary pressures shaping sex determination. Denser taxon sampling, structural modeling, and experimental tests are needed to clarify whether HMG-box drift and terminal-region variation affect DNA binding, bending, or reproductive function.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Mathematics, Pingla Thana Mahavidyalaya, India"
  ],
  "article_type": "New results",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 7,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "D. S. S. Hassan"
    },
    {
      "name": "N. Mukherjee"
    },
    {
      "name": "M. Sil"
    },
    {
      "name": "A. GOSWAMI"
    },
    {
      "name": "G. W. Dayhoff"
    },
    {
      "name": "A. P. Anisimov"
    },
    {
      "name": "V. N. Uversky"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/agc32bxhzdjyr.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.64898/2026.10.18.759944",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.18.759944v1.full",
  "id": "agc32bxhzdjyr",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.18.759944v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-ND",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-ND",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "biorxiv",
      "bioinformatics"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "1311|Genetic and Clinical Aspects of Sex Determination and Chromosomal Abnormalities"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7223560317",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.18.759944v1.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-18",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/agc32bxhzdjyr.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:29:35Z",
      "native_id": "10.64898/2026.10.18.759944",
      "source": "biorxiv",
      "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.18.759944v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "biorxiv:bioinformatics",
      "subfield": "bioinformatics"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Mathematical genomics of SRY proteins and their associated HMG-Box domains across mammals",
  "title_text": "Mathematical genomics of SRY proteins and their associated HMG-Box domains across mammals",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:29:35Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/agc32bxhzdjyr",
  "venue": "bioRxiv",
  "versions": []
}