Gender May Not Be Written In Stone At Birth!

"It was thought that once established, sexual differentiation could not be undone," Nugent told PBS. "Our work shows that sex differences in brain and behaviour are epigenetically regulated, meaning that sex differences are not hardwired in our DNA but programmed during development."

A recent study has shown that gender may be "plastic" and can be changed during development. In the study, researcher showed that neurological sex is more "flexible" than once thought and for the first time they have been able to "flip" the sex of newborn rats causing females to act like males.  The changes suggests that gender within a few days of birth is not "set in stone" as once was thought. This "flipping" is the consequence of epigenetic processes that do not change the sequences of DNA but silences some of the genes and therefore, influences gene function. One might assume that these epigenetic processes can last for a number of years or a lifetime. In addition, the researchers found that not only was their a change in behavior but also a corresponding change in brain structure. 


For further reading:  You and Your Offspring are What You Eat and Pollutants You're Exposed too!



Brain ‘gender’ is more fluid than originally thought, research reveals Science Alert (9 April 2015) by Fiona MacDonald. http://www.sciencealert.com/brain-gender-is-more-fluid-than-originally-thought-research-reveals