AVTALION: Yes. We have not of course studied this for all the crosses given in our
autosomal theory because this would take a lot of time, but I agree that there is a balance
between maleness and femaleness.
LOVSHIN: Regarding your theory of sex determination by sex chromosomes and
autosomes, can you determine the genotype within a species by electrophoresis?AVTALION: Not directly by this method. It is better done indirectly by performing
crosses and analysis of the sex ratios of the progeny as I have indicated in my paper.
Unfortunately, I do not have the facilities for this. Why don't you try out these crosses in
America?JALABERT: Does the quantity of male sex protein in the serum vary with time for a
given male?AVTALION: Yes, it can rise or decrease.JALABERT: This could be related to sexual activity. Do you see any correlation be-
tween the levels of male sex protein and the intensity of sexual activity?AVTALION: This is going to be tested by Mr. Mires and myself next year.JALABERT: I think that this is very important.ROBERTS: Our studies over the last two or three years on electrophoresis of muscle
proteins are in agreement with Dr. Avtalion's. We have looked at possibly a wider range
of natural populations and compared them with so called pure populations being used
for culture. Many of these latter strains are in fact hybrids and we feel that this explains
why many people in the past have not been able to repeat Chen and Prowse's work as
they have not been using pure lines. We have not been able to make observations on male
sex protein but we have found that in any hatchery situation where there is a limited
number of females or a limited amount of nest-building area, certain males dominate the
rest and adopt the courting habit. If the dominant male is removed from such a family, a
new male becomes dominant to replace him. I also wonder about a correlation between
male sex protein and dominance.