Genetic Tweak Makes Female Mice Butch

www.youtube.com/watch?v=

By knocking out a single gene, Harvard University researchers produced mice that "behave like sex-crazed males," reports Nature.

Without the gene, female mice acted exactly like males — even towards male mice — complete with mounting, pelvic thrusts and the ultrasound calls that males use to attract a mate. [...]

Left in a large semi-natural enclosure for a month, female mice lacking TRPC2 still chased males and attempted to mount them. Many of the females gave birth to pups, but they were bad at nursing them and protecting them from other mice in the enclosure.

The upshot is that sex hormones, seen as the dominant regulators of animal sexual behavior, aren't so fundamentally important after all.
But before we get carried away about what this could mean for people, the article notes that the gene in question, TRPC2, has no function in humans – and of course the usual caveats about mouse extrapolations apply.

Still, a pretty fascinating piece of research. And some great YouTube material.

Nose goes, gender bends [News@Nature]

Male pheromone–stimulated neurogenesis in the adult female brain: possible role in mating behavior [Nature]