Summary
H-Y antigen was examined in six patients exhibiting the characteristic features of Turner syndrome. Five of the patients were of the karyotype 45,X, and one was a mosaic 45,X/46,Xi(Xq). H-Y antigen was detected in all of them, however, compared to male controls, their antigen titer was reduced. Within the intermediate range between female and male controls, considerable interindividual variation was detected among the patients which could be due at least in part to biological variation. The findings permit the inference that the H-Y structural gene is not Y-linked, and support the assumptions of an X-linked gene escaping inactivation and of it controlling the expression of the H-Y structural gene. It is probable that the structural gene itself is autosomal. The results also suggest that male gonadal differentiation is dependent on a threshold level of H-Y antigen concentration.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bernstein, R., Koo, G. C., Wachtel, S. S.: Abnormality of the X chromosome in human 46,XY female siblings with dysgenetic ovaries. Science 207, 768–769 (1980)
Breg, W. R., Genel, M., Koo, G. C., Wachtel, S. S., Krupen-Brown, K., Miller, O. J.: H-Y antigen and human sex chromosomal abnormalities. In: Genetic mechanisms of sexual development (H. L. Vallet, I.-H. Porter, eds.), pp. 279–291. New York-London: Academic Press 1979
Fraccaro, M., Tiepolo, L., Zuffardi, O., Chiumello, G., Di Natale, B., Gargantini, L., Wolf, U.: Familial XX true hermaphroditism and the H-Y antigen. Hum. Genet. 48, 45–52 (1979)
Fraccaro, M., Lindsten, J., Pawlowitzky, H., Mayerová, A., Wolf, U.: Sex chromosome polysomies and H-Y antigen titer: Positive/negative correlations with the number of Y/X chromosomes. Hum. Genet. (in press, 1980)
Fredga, K., Gropp, A., Winking, H., Frank, F.: Fertile XX-and XY-type females in the wood lemming Myopus schisticolor. Nature 261, 225–227 (1976)
Hecht, T., Bauknecht, T., Siebers, J. W., Mayerová, A.: Detection of H-Y antigen in human erythrocytes by haemolysis. Hum. Genet. (in press, 1980)
Herbst, E. W., Fredga, K., Frank, F., Winking, H., Gropp, A.: Cytological identification of two X-chromosome types in the wood lemming (Myopus schisticolor). Chromosoma (Berl.) 69, 185–191 (1978)
Human Gene Mapping 4. Cytogenet. Cell Genet., Vol. 22 (1978)
Koo, G. C., Wachtel, S. S., Krupen-Brown, K., Mittl, L. R., Breg, W. R., Genel, M., Rosenthal, I. M., Borgaonkar, D. S., Miller, D. A., Tantravahi, R., Schreck, R. R., Erlanger, B. F., Miller, O. J.: Mapping the locus of the H-Y gene on the human Y chromosome. Science 198, 940–942 (1977)
McKusick, V. A.: Mendelian inheritance in man, 5th edition. Baltimore-London: The Johns Hopkins University Press 1978
Müller, C. R., Migl, B., Traupe, H., Ropers, H. H.: X-linked steroid sulfatase: evidence for different gene dosage in males and females. Hum. Genet. (in press, 1980)
Shapiro, L. J., Mohandas, T., Weiss, R., Romeo, G.: Noninactivation of an X-chromosome locus in man. Science 204, 1224–1226 (1979)
Tiepolo, L., Zuffardi, O., Fraccaro, M., di Natale, B., Gargantini, L., Müller, C. R., Ropers, H. H.: Assignment by deletion mapping of the steroid sulfatase-X-linked ichthyosis locus to Xp223. Hum. Genet. (in press, 1980)
Wachtel, S. S., Koo, G. C., Ohno, S., Gropp, A., Dev, V. G., Tantravahi, R., Miller, D. A., Miller, O. J.: H-Y antigen and the origin of XY female wood lemmings (Myopus schisticolor). Nature 264, 638–639 (1976)
Wolf, U.: Zum Mechanismus der Gonadendifferenzierung. Bull. Schweiz. Akad. Med. Wiss. 34, 357–368 (1978)
Wolf, U.: XY gonadal dysgenesis and the H-Y antigen. Hum. Genet. 47, 269–277 (1979)
Wolf, U., Fraccaro, M., Mayerová, A., Hecht, T., Maraschio, P., Hameister, H.: A gene controlling H-Y antigen on the X chromosome. Tentative assignment by deletion mapping to Xp223. Hum. Genet. 54, 149–154 (1980)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB 46)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wolf, U., Fraccaro, M., Mayerová, A. et al. Turner syndrome patients are H-Y positive. Hum Genet 54, 315–318 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00291575
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00291575