Man, I feel like a woman: Surprisingly simple genetic quirk in transgender algae reveals how separate sexes evolved

Scientists in Missouri have revealed they have induced gender in cells They performed the trick by modifying a gene in multicellular algae This gene was responsible for giving the algae one of two mating types But they altered it so that it could switch between 'male' and female' Could explain origin of the sexes in plant and animal organisms

By Jonathan O'Callaghan

Published: 12:11 EST, 10 July 2014 | Updated: 12:11 EST, 10 July 2014

Throughout evolution, living things have repeatedly developed physically distinct sexes, but how does this actually happen?

Thats the question scientists were hoping to answer when they performed a genetic engineering trick on multicellular algae.

And they were surprised to find the process through which one gender produces eggs and the other sperm was more simple than expected - and the scientists could switch the gender roles of the algae.

Scientists in Missouri have revealed they could induce gender (stock image shown) in cells. They performed the trick by identifying and modifying a gene in multicellular algae. This gene was responsible for giving the algae one of two mating types, but they also made it switch gender

The study, led by Dr James Umen at the Danforth Plant Science Center in Missouri and published in Plos Biology, looked at the multicellular green algae Volvox carteri.

A neuroscientist has claimed the expression 'Men are from Mars and women are from Venus' has no scientific grounding, and that instead our brains are changed by the roles society forces us to play.

According to Gina Rippon, a professor at Aston University in Birmingham, stereotypes - such as women's supposed inability to read maps, or the idea men are bad at multitasking - have no links to science.

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Man, I feel like a woman: Surprisingly simple genetic quirk in transgender algae reveals how separate sexes evolved