Transcription factor that plays a key role in female sex determination and primary ovary development. Acts as a sex-determining protein by antagonizing the transcriptional activity of male-determination protein dmrt1-a, acting as a dominant-negative type protein. Expressed exclusively in the primordial gonads of ZW tadpoles. Specifically expressed in the somatic cells surrounding primordial germ cells in a ZW gonad at stage 50 during sex determination (at protein level). Barely detectable at stage 52 in the ZW gonads. Belongs to the DMRT family.