Mammalian cross-reactive H-Y antigen induces sex reversal in vitro in the avian testis.

Testes of either newborn rats or newly hatched chickens, dissociated into single cell suspensions, reorganize in vitro into their histotypic structures. In birds, the heterogametic female sex is H-Y antigen positive, and not the male as in mammals. Cocultivation of rat and chicken testicular cells results in the reorganization of an ovotestis. A similar result is obtained after cultivation of chicken testicular cells in the supernatant medium of cultured human male Burkitt lymphoma Daudi cells. Rat testicular Sertoli cells as well as Daudi cells are a source of H-Y antigen. The simultaneous application of H-Y antigen and anti-H-Y antiserum prevents ovotestis formation. It is concluded that H-Y antigen which is known to be testis-organizing in mammals, is the ovary-organizing factor in birds.