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A team of researchers examined stem cells in flies' intestines.They used genetic tools to essentially turn on genes that would make the cell more male or female. When this was done, it was observed that the female cells tended to multiply more. This appears to allow the female gut to grow during reproduction. This may be present in flies, as well as humans to optimize nutrition transfer to the fetus. The research team found that female intestines were more prone to develop tumors. This may be a sort of trade-off: the female gets a larger gut to help in reproduction, but at the same time, this gut may be likely to become cancerous. It is known that sexual organs are able to change into the opposite with just one genetic change. So, sexual organ cells have their sexual identity constantly reinforced throughout their life. This may be the first time that this practice has been observed in other types of cells. It has been assumed that organs may function differently in different sexes because of hormones and such, but differences are not due only to hormones and developmental history. The mechanism that works for determining a cell's sex is a certain type of cascade. This cascade was found to not be fully at work in non-sexual organs, so it was assumed that organs had no sex. But in this experiment where sex was known to change this same cascade that supposedly determines sex was still not at work. So, it is now suspected that organs use a different type of cascade to determine sex. I find this issue of particular importance because discoveries like this may help us better understand the differences between males and females. What first should be determined is whether or not this applies to humans. Understanding differences may help us to better treat certain diseases and may help us understand why a particular sex is more likely to get a disease. Basically, having more knowledge about our bodies will let us be more effective at taking care of them. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160217140624.htm
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April 2016
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