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LiveScience
LiveScience
Clarissa Brincat

'Completely new and totally unexpected finding': Iron deficiency in pregnancy can cause 'male' mice to develop female organs

Pregnancy Live Science
A group of baby mice sleeping in a row.

Iron deficiency during pregnancy can cause a male mouse embryo to develop female features, a new study reveals.

The low iron disrupts the activation of a key gene that spurs the development of male sex organs. This causes embryos with XY chromosomes — the most common combination seen in males — to develop female sex organs instead.

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