Faculty Profile

Blanche Capel, Ph.D. (Genetics, University of Pennsylvania) Associate Professor, Department of Cell Biology Director of Admissions, Developmental Biology Training Program Executive Committee of the Graduate Faculty Committee for Women at Duke	*The Role of Sry* in Organogenesis of the Testis** During development, specific genes are thought to act as genetic switches, inducing molecular cascades that control the differentiation of embryonic tissues into adult cell types and organs. The process of sex determination in mammals is dependent on the expression of a single gene on the Y chromosome, Sry. Sry acts as a genetic switch and induces a wide variety of downstream events in the undifferentiated gonad to turn its development from the ovarian pathway to the testis. We are studying the cellular and molecular events induced by Sry expression to give us information about genetic switch genes, testis formation, and organ development in general. We have identified several pathways downstream of Sry, including cell migration, cell differentiation, proliferation, and many of the genes associated with these events. Experimental approaches include organ culture, transgenic mice, differential screens, confocal microscopy, biochemical and molecular techniques, classic mouse genetics, and comparative embryology.

E-mail b.capel@cellbio.duke.edu 4026 GSRBII Bldg., Box 3709 Duke University Medical Center Durham, NC 27710 Telephone 919-684-6390 Fax 919-668-3467

Selected publications
Coveney D, Cool J, Oliver T, and Capel B (2008). Four-dimensional analysis of vascularization during primary development of an organ, the gonad. PNAS, 105 (20): 7212-7217. -PDF-

Ross, AJ and Capel, B. Signaling at the crossroads of gonad development. Trends Endocrinol Metab. 16: 19-25 (2004). -PDF-

Coveney, D. and Capel, B. Frank Lillie’s Freemartin: Illuminating the Pathway to 21st Century Reproductive Endocrinology. Journal of Experimental Zoology. 301A: 853-856 (2004). -PDF-

Takada, S., DiNapoli, L, Capel, B. and Koopman, P. Sox8 is expressed at similar levels in gonads of both sexes during the sex determining period in turtles. Developmental Dynamics 231:387-395 (2004). -PDF-

Cui, S*, Ross, A.*, Stallings, N., Parker, K.L., Capel, B., Quaggin, S.E. Disrupted Gonadogenesis and Male-to-Female Sex Reversal in Pod1 Knockout Mice. Development 131: 4095-4105 (2004). -PDF-

Schmahl, J., Kim, Y, Colvin, J.S., Ornitz, D.M. and Capel, B. Fgf9 induces proliferation and nuclear localization of FGFR2 in Sertoli precursors during male sex determination. Development 131: 3627-3635 (2004). -PDF-

Brennan, J and Capel, B. One Tissue, Two Fates: Molelcular genetic events that underlie testis versus ovary development. Nature Reviews Genetics 5: 509-521 (2004). -PDF-

Yao, H., DiNapoli, L., and Capel, B. Meiotic germ cells antagonize mesonepheric cell migration and testis cord formation. Development 130: 5895-5902 (2003). -PDF-

Brennan, J., Tilmann, C., Yao, H, and Capel, B. Pdgfra mediates testis cord organization and fetal Leydig cell development in the XY gonad. Genes and Development, 17:800-810 (2003). -PDF-

Schmahl, J. and Capel, B. Cell proliferation is necessary for the determination of male fate in the gonad. Developmental Biology, 258: 264-76 (2003). -PDF-

Yao HH, Whoriskey W, Capel B. Desert Hedgehog/Patched 1 signaling specifies fetal Leydig cell fate in testis organogenesis. Genes Dev. 2002 Jun 1;16(11):1433-40 -PDF-

Brennan J, Karl J, Capel B. Divergent vascular mechanisms downstream of Sry establish the arterial system in the XY gonad. Dev Biol. 2002 Apr 15;244(2):418-28. -PDF-

Colvin JS, Green RP, Schmahl J, Capel B, Ornitz DM. Male-to-female sex reversal in mice lacking fibroblast growth factor 9. Cell. 2001 Mar 23;104(6):875-89. -PDF-

Schmahl, J, Eicher, E.M., Washburn, L.L. and Capel, B. Sry induces cell proliferation in the mouse gonad. Development, 127: 65-73 (2000). -PDF-

Current projects

Cell migration and formation of testis specific vasculature

Signaling pathways that intersect with Sry

Evolution of sex- determining mechanisms

Cell biology of mouse Ter (teratoma) mutants

FGF signaling in testis development

The origin and cell fate commitment of Sertoli cells

Germ cell/somatic cell interactions in the gonad

Investigation of sex-determination in the red-eared slider turtle, T.scripta

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