MONDAY, April 20th

9:30 – 11:00 am REGISTRATION

11:00 – 11:30 am KEYNOTE ADDRESS – Yoshitaki Nagahama (Okazaki, Japan) – Sexual Plasticity in Fish

1. Sex Determination I

11:30 – 12:00 pm Session Chair/invited talk – Robin Lovell-Badge (London, UK) – The Establishment and Maintenance of Gonadal Sex in Mammals

12:00 – 12:15 pm – Bagheri-Fam: Analysis of the testis-specific enhancer of Sox9 in the Sry-negative mammalian species Ellobius lutescens

12:15 – 12:30 pm – Ludbrook: Mechanisms of dosage sensitive sex reversal caused by Dax1 duplication

LUNCH

2:00 – 2:30 pm – Invited talk – Craig Smith (Melbourne, Australia) – Genetic Regulation of Gonadal Development in an Avian Model, the Chicken Embryo

2:30 – 2:45 pm – Matsuda: DMRT1 is required for testicular development in the medaka, Oryzias latipes

2:45 – 3:00 pm – Myosho: Identification of the sex-determining gene that hijacked DMY in Oryzias luzonensis

3:00 – 3:15 pm – Pailhoux: SRY protein expression during testis development in goat

BREAK

3:35 – 3:50 pm – Swain: The transcriptional cofactor Cited2 is required for efficient mouse sex determination

3:50 – 4:05 pm – Correa: XY sex reversal caused by reduced Sry expression and early activation of the ovary determination pathway

4:05 – 4:20 pm – Ito: A W-linked gene DM-W could determine female development as a sex (ovary)-determining gene in Xenopus laevis: Implications for the ZZ/ZW-type sex-determining system

4:20 – 4:35 pm – Bashamboo: Mutations in the NR5A1 gene encoding steroidogenic factor-1 are associated with a range of ovarian pathologies

4:35 – 4:50 pm – Tevosian: An unexpected role for GATA4 in embryonic gonadal development

4:50 – 5:05 pm – Polanco: Sex reversal in XX mice overexpressing Sox10

6:30 – 10:00 pm WELCOME RECEPTION

TUESDAY, April 21th

7:30 – 8:00 am REGISTRATION
8:00 – 8:30 am CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST

2. Sex Determination II

8:30 – 9:00 am Session Chair – Ken Morohashi (Fukuoka, Japan) – Understanding Molecular Mechanisms for the Functions and Structures of Tissue Specific Enhancers

9:00 – 9:15 am – Bernard: Activation of beta-catenin signaling inhibits Sox9 expression via inhibition of Sf1 transcriptional function

9:15 – 9:30 am – Chung: Female Dominant Genetic Factors Control Zebrafish Sex Determination

9:30 – 9:45 am – Jorgensen: Two regions within the proximal Sf1 promoter work together to drive somatic cell-specific activity in developing gonads of the female mouse

9:45 – 10:00 am – Pannetier: Goat, an alternative sex-determination model within mammals

BREAK

10:20 – 10:50 am - Invited talk – Marie-Christine Chabossier (Nice, France) – The Canonical Rspo1/b-catenin Pathway: Roles in Ovarian Differentiation and Oogenesis

10:50 – 11:05 am – Yao: Building pathways for the maintenance of ovarian identity

11:05 – 11:20 am – Greenfield: Boygirl (byg): a novel mutation causing XY gonadal sex reversal in the mouse

11:20 – 11:35 am – Poulat: The PGD2 pathway, independently of FGF9, amplifies SOX9 activity in Sertoli cells during male sexual differentiation

11:35 – 11:50 am – Ostrer: Mutations in MAP3KI cause 46,XY disorders of sex development and implicate a common signal transduction pathway in human testis development

LUNCH

3. Genomics/Gonad Differentiation

1:30 – 2:00 pm Session Chair, Andrew Sinclair (Melbourne, Australia) – Insights into Disorders of Sex Development: Copy Number Analysis of Patients using High Density Whole Genome Arrays

2:00 – 2:15 pm – Queipo: Single nucleotide polymorphism analysis in Mexican XX and XY sex reversal cases

2:15 – 2:30 pm – Orban: Zebrafish sex: What we know and what we don’t know

2:30 – 2:45 pm – Ring: Genetic analysis of ovotestis development in the mangrove killifish (Kryptolebias marmoratus)

2:45 – 3:00 pm – Munger: Integrating genetics and genomics to eludicate the transcription networks governing sex determination and testis organogenesis in mice

3:00 – 3:15 pm – Vilain: A congenic approach to the identification of novel sex determining genes

BREAK

3:35 – 4:05 pm – Invited speaker – Mark Van Doren (Baltimore, Maryland) – What Can Flies Teach Us About Vertebrate Sex Determination?

4:05 – 4:20 pm – Combes: Migrating endothelial cells direct testis cord formation

4:20 – 4:35 – Cool: Testis morphogenesis requires VEGF mediated endothelial migration via a novel mechanism of vascular remodeling

4:35 – 4:50 pm – Griswold: Progenitor pools of fetal Leydig cells

4:50 – 5:05 pm – De Falco: Regulation of interstitial cell fate by Mafb during mammalian testis morphogenesis

5:05 – 5:20 pm – Sarraj: Fetal testis dysgenesis in Tgfbr3 (betaglycan) knockout mice compromises Leydig cell function

WEDNESDAY, April 22th

8:00 – 8:30 am CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST

4. Male and female germ cells

8:30 – 9:00 am Session Chair, David Zarkower (Minneapolis, Minnesota) – Dmrt1 Regulates Germ Cell Differentiation and Cell Identity at Multiple Stages of Testis Differentiation

9:00 – 9:15 am – Bowles: Signals affecting sexual fate in the germ line

9:15 – 9:30 am – Yu: TGIF2L in a marsupial during sexual development and gametogenesis

9:30 – 9:45 am – Chang: Wnt4 associated with late development of ovarian tissue but not sex differentiation in the protandrous black porgy fish

9:45 – 10:00 am – Naillat: Female germ line development regulated by Wnt4 signaling

BREAK

10:20 – 10:50 am Session Chair/Invited talk – Minoru Tanaka (Okazaki, Japan) – AMH Signaling in Sex Differentiation in Medaka Fish

10:50 – 11:05 am – Kobayashi: Testicular differentiation in teleosts: Formation of seminiferous tubule structure

11:05 – 11:20 am – Schartl: Expression, regulation and sex determining function of dmrt1bY in medaka

11:20 – 11:35 am – Cook: The RNA binding protein DND1 is necessary to regulate pluripotency, cell cycle, and male differentiation in germ cells of the fetal testis

11:35 – 11:50 am – Barrionuevo: Dicer is required for Sertoli cell function and survival

11:50 – 12:05 pm – Wilhelm: The role of non-coding RNAs in mouse sex determination and gonad development

AFTERNOON FREE

6:00 – 10:00 pm POSTER SESSION

THURSDAY, April 23th

8:00 – 8:30 am CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST

5. Sex chromosomes

8:30 – 9:00 am Session Chair/invited speaker - Jenny Marshall Graves (Canberra, Australia) – Evolution of mammal XY sex chromosomes from an ancient bird-like ZW system

9:00 – 9:15 am – Grutxner: The search for sex determining genes on the five Y chromosomes in platypus

9:15 – 9:30 am – Smith: The salamander (Ambystoma mexicanum): Perspectives on the evolution of very old and very young sex chromosomes

9:30 – 9:45 am – Ezaz: Sex in dragons: Evidence of multiple transitions between modes of sex determination

9:45 – 10:00 am – Martinez: The Y is sometimes bigger: A heteromorphic sex chromosome system in the turtle Emydura macquarii

BREAK

10:20 – 10:50 am – Invited speaker – Masahisa Nakamura (Tokyo, Japan) – Sex Determination Mechanisms in Amphibians

10:50 – 11:05 am – Miura: The W chromosome evolution and sex-linked gene expression in the Japanese frog Rana rugosa

11:05 – 11:20 am – Murtagh: Compact but complex – insights into the marsupial Y chromosome

11:20 – 11:35 am – Otake: Quick-change of sex chromosomes in the medaka

11:35 – 11:50 pm – Phillips: Evolution of the Y chromosome in Pacific salmon and trout: transposition of a small male-specific region derived from an autosome

11:50 – 12:05 pm – Urton: Evolution of sex chromosomes and sex determination in stickleback fishes

LUNCH

6. Environmental effects on sex determination, sex differentiation and fertility

2:00 – 2:30 pm Session Chair, Marilyn Renfree (Melbourne, Australia) – Steroid Hormone-induced Sex Reversal in the Marsupial Mammal

2:30 – 2:45 pm – Pask: Molecular development of the tammar gonad

2:45 – 3:00 pm – Meijide: Studies on sex determination and sex differentiation in the cichlid fish Cichlasoma dimerus (Teleostei, Perciformes)

3:00 – 3:15 pm – Carre: BMP-4 (bone morphogenetic protein): New actor during the gonadal development in the chicken embryo

3:15 – 3:30 pm – Georges: Reptiles with TSD – Are they inherently resistant to climate change?

BREAK

3:50 – 4:20 pm – Invited speaker - Nicole Valenzuela (Ames, Iowa) – Environmental and Genotypic Sex Determination in Turtles

4:20 – 4:35 pm – Piferrer: Temperature effects on sex differentiation and sex ratios in fish: Prevalence, reaction norms, endocrinology and epigenetic mechanisms

4:35 – 4:50 pm – D’Cotta: Temperature induced up-regulation of Dmrt1 and down-regulation of FoxL2 and Cyp19a1 expressions in a highly thermosensitive line of the Nile tilapia

4:50 – 5:05 pm – Sarre: Sex determination in reptiles: evolutionary transitions along the continuum

6:30 – 10:00 pm CONFERENCE DINNER

FRIDAY, April 14th

8:00 – 8:30 am CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST

7. Non-gonadal sex differentiation

8:30 – 9:00 am Session Chair/Invited speaker – Katie Peichel (Seattle, Washington) – Sex Chromosomes and Reproductive Isolation in Sticklebacks

9:00 – 9:15 am – Pazin: Smoc1 and Smoc2 potentially mediate growth factor signaling during gonadogenesis and reproductive tract development

9:15 – 9:30 am – Argentaro: Developing a mouse model for the genital abnormalities of the ATR-X syndrome

9:30 – 9:45 am – Bocklandt: Genomic and epigenetic analysis of identical twins discordant for sexual orientation

BREAK

10:05 – 10:35 am – Invited speaker - Martin Cohn (Gainsville, Florida) – Development of the External Genitalia

10:35 – 10:50 am – Hinton: Questions and hypotheses as to how the developing Wolffian/epididymal duct elongates, coils, and patterns to induce functional regions

10:50 – 11:05 am – Ma: Signaling pathways in external genitalia development