Spontaneous sex reversal inPleurodeles waltl(urodele amphibia): analysis of its inheritance

Abstract

SummaryUp to now, no case of spontaneous sex reversal has been described in the urodele amphibianPleurodeles waltlreared at ambient temperature. However in offspring reared under laboratory conditions, males, females but also intersex individuals were obtained. The males, some females and the intersexes had the ZZ male genotype identified through a test performed with a sex-linked enzyme. The other females had the ZW female genotype. Using the animals of this particular strain, an offspring analysis was made on crosses between, respectively, ZZ males and ZW females, ZZ males and ZZ females, and ZZ intersexes and ZZ males or females. All these crosses gave ZZ males, ZZ females and ZZ intersexes. The spontaneous complete or partial sex reversal is inheritable, but the genetic mechanism of this inheritance has not yet been elucidated.