Individuals carrying the male sex chromosomes (XY) can develop as females in the absence of a particular enzyme, according to a team of scientists from Monash University, several institutions in Japan and the University of Queensland.
Researchers made the accidental discovery when 80% of offspring from mice they bred specifically without an enzyme (H3K9 demethylase Jmjd1a) presented as female.
If replicated in humans, these results may help to explain the occurrence of some sex development disorders. The molecular basis of XY sex reversal occurs in approximately one in 50,000 live births.
Read more at Monash University