Nature employs a wide variety of sex determining mechanisms and itis only comparatively recently that the tools have become availablefor these to be explored at the cellular and molecularlevels. A major landmark was the discovery in 1990 of theSRY gene and the subsequent demonstration of its key role intriggering male sex determination in transgenic mice. This book reviews and discusses our current understanding of themolecular genetic pathways of sex determination, with specialemphasis on vertebrates. It features comparisons with othermodes of sex determination, consideration of the biology of sexualdevelopment and discussion of the evolution of sex-determiningmechanisms. By bringing together an international and interdisciplinarygroup of experts who study many different aspects of the problem,the book highlights much new and exciting work in this area andserves to identify and stimulate promising new researchdirections.weiterlesen