{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"institution":[{"name":"bioRxiv"}],"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,17]],"date-time":"2026-03-17T14:35:13Z","timestamp":1773758113705,"version":"3.50.1"},"posted":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,14]]},"group-title":"Developmental Biology","reference-count":83,"publisher":"openRxiv","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,14]],"date-time":"2026-03-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1773446400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/about\/FAQ#license"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Institute of Child Health and Human Development","award":["R00HD096051"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R00HD096051"]}]},{"name":"National Institute of Child Health and Human Development","award":["R01HD111425"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R01HD111425"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,14]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>\n                  The paradigm of sexual differentiation holds that female embryos retain M\u00fcllerian ducts (the precursor to female reproductive tract) by default in the absence of anti-M\u00fcllerian hormone (AMH). However, whether M\u00fcllerian duct maintenance requires active signaling has remained unclear. Here, we discover that the deletion of mesenchymal\n                  <jats:italic>Gata2<\/jats:italic>\n                  induces selective regression of the cranial M\u00fcllerian duct (future oviduct). This regression is not driven by ectopic AMH signaling, but rather by the loss of region-specific NRG1 signaling. In contrast, the caudal M\u00fcllerian duct (future uterus) is retained and displays disrupted epithelial differentiation upon\n                  <jats:italic>Gata2<\/jats:italic>\n                  deletion in either the mesenchymal or epithelial compartments. Our findings reveal a region-specific, GATA2-dependent program that actively maintains the cranial M\u00fcllerian duct, reshaping our understanding of female reproductive tract development.\n                <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.64898\/2026.03.11.711111","type":"posted-content","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,14]],"date-time":"2026-03-14T14:45:11Z","timestamp":1773499511000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["M\u00fcllerian duct maintenance at the cranial region is promoted by\n                  <i>Gata2<\/i>"],"prefix":"10.64898","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1371-243X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Shuai","family":"Jia","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Comparative Biosciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Madison, 53706, 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