Go to http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/gender-testing-athletes
Go through the activities in this site and answer the following questions (some of them are in the site itself)
- Can a test determine an individual’s biological sex? And can testosterone produced by an athlete’s own body provide an unfair advantage?
- At the bottom of the section on development is a graph showing testosterone levels for male and female athletes. Most female athletes have less than 5 nm/L of testosterone, but a few have as high as 30 nmol/L which is above the average for male athletes. Which genetic condition(s) can cause XX individuals to have high testosterone levels?
(3) The AR gene codes for a transcription factor which is only functional when testosterone is present. Based on what you know about transcription factors and about sex determination explain
(A) Why do XY individuals with a mutation in the AR gene develop as females despite having male levels of testosterone?
(B) Would you expect such individuals to be more muscular than an average female?
(4) Do the case studies for the sprinter and the swimmer. Should they be eligible to compete? Explain your answer.
