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PreprintCC BY-NC-NDbioRxiv

Primordial endocrine cells uncouple sexual differentiation from sex-chromosomes

  • T. Levy1
  • M. Wahl
  • U. Hadad
  • B. Rosental
  • R. Manor
  • S. Weil
  • E. D. Aflalo
  • C. Benvenuto
  • A. Sagi
  1. 1Stanford University
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Abstract

Sexuality among the animal kingdom is remarkably plastic, spanning from gonochorism to sequential or simultaneous hermaphroditism. Over 70 years ago, Charniaux-Cotton hypothesized that sexual plasticity in crustaceans is mediated by primordial cells present in both sexes, which differentiate into an androgenic gland (AG) only in males. Although AG engraftments can masculinize genetic females, it remained unclear whether this reflects long-term integration of donor cells within the host or activation of host primordial AG progenitors. Using the freshwater prawn as an exceptional case of sexual plasticity, where AG-cell transfer yields functional neo-males bearing only female sex-chromosomes, we show, through cellular-resolution approaches, that the AG arises from primordial cells present in every individual, indicating autosomal machinery of sexual differentiation completely independent from the sex-chromosomes.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@misc{levy2026primordial,
  title = {{Primordial endocrine cells uncouple sexual differentiation from sex-chromosomes}},
  author = {T. Levy and M. Wahl and U. Hadad and B. Rosental and R. Manor and S. Weil and E. D. Aflalo and C. Benvenuto and A. Sagi},
  howpublished = {bioRxiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.64898/2026.09.21.753345},
  url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.21.753345v1},
  note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY  - UNPB
TI  - Primordial endocrine cells uncouple sexual differentiation from sex-chromosomes
AU  - T. Levy
AU  - M. Wahl
AU  - U. Hadad
AU  - B. Rosental
AU  - R. Manor
AU  - S. Weil
AU  - E. D. Aflalo
AU  - C. Benvenuto
AU  - A. Sagi
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/21
PB  - bioRxiv
DO  - 10.64898/2026.09.21.753345
UR  - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.21.753345v1
AB  - Sexuality among the animal kingdom is remarkably plastic, spanning from gonochorism to sequential or simultaneous hermaphroditism. Over 70 years ago, Charniaux-Cotton hypothesized that sexual plasticity in crustaceans is mediated by primordial cells present in both sexes, which differentiate into an androgenic gland (AG) only in males. Although AG engraftments can masculinize genetic females, it remained unclear whether this reflects long-term integration of donor cells within the host or activation of host primordial AG progenitors. Using the freshwater prawn as an exceptional case of sexual plasticity, where AG-cell transfer yields functional neo-males bearing only female sex-chromosomes, we show, through cellular-resolution approaches, that the AG arises from primordial cells present in every individual, indicating autosomal machinery of sexual differentiation completely independent from the sex-chromosomes.
ER  -