Boy or girl? Here's everything you need to know about when you can find out the gender of your baby through ultrasound. This is one of the most common questions doctors get from parents-to-be. The position of the baby during the ultrasound is key, and if your baby's curled up or facing the wrong way, you may have to wait until your next appointment.
Humans are born with 46 chromosomes in 23 pairs. Most women are 46XX and most men are 46XY. Research suggests, however, that in a few births per thousand some individuals will be born with a single sex chromosome 45X or 45Y sex monosomies and some with three or more sex chromosomes 47XXX, 47XYY or 47XXY, etc. In addition, some males are born 46XX due to the translocation of a tiny section of the sex determining region of the Y chromosome.
21.1 Genetic factors and hormones that determine gender
Sexual differentiation in humans is the process of development of sex differences in humans. It is defined as the development of phenotypic structures consequent to the action of hormones produced following gonadal determination. The development of sexual differences begins with the XY sex-determination system that is present in humans, and complex mechanisms are responsible for the development of the phenotypic differences between male and female humans from an undifferentiated zygote. At an early stage in embryonic development, both sexes possess equivalent internal structures. These are the mesonephric ducts and paramesonephric ducts.
The SRY gene provides instructions for making a protein called the sex-determining region Y protein. This protein is involved in male sexual development, which is usually determined by the chromosomes an individual has. People usually have 46 chromosomes in each cell. Two of the 46 chromosomes, known as X and Y, are called sex chromosomes because they help determine whether a person will develop male or female sex characteristics.