Gene Determining Female Puberty Onset Identified

In a new research scientists at the OHSU Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC) have identified a key gene that impacts the timing of puberty and can shorten the time span for reproduction. "Using a mouse model, our lab has determined that the absence in the brain's hypothalamus of a gene called TTF-1 causes a delay in the onset of female puberty" Lead researcher Sergio Ojeda said. The researchers studied mice in which the TTF-1 gene had been deleted selectively from neurons and tracked their development as compared to a control group of wild-type littermate mice. The mice lacking this gene exhibited delayed puberty, had fewer litters, had fewer pups in each litter, and their reproductive time span was half that of a normal animal.