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Avian W and mammalian Y chromosomes convergently retained dosage-sensitive regulators
- Source :
- Nature genetics
- Publication Year :
- 2017
- Publisher :
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2017.
-
Abstract
- After birds diverged from mammals, different ancestral autosomes evolved into sex chromosomes in each lineage. In birds, females are ZW and males are ZZ, but in mammals females are XX and males are XY. We sequenced the chicken W chromosome, compared its gene content with our reconstruction of the ancestral autosomes, and followed the evolutionary trajectory of ancestral W-linked genes across birds. Avian W chromosomes evolved in parallel with mammalian Y chromosomes, preserving ancestral genes through selection to maintain the dosage of broadly expressed regulators of key cellular processes. We propose that, like the human Y chromosome, the chicken W chromosome is essential for embryonic viability of the heterogametic sex. Unlike other sequenced sex chromosomes, the chicken W chromosome did not acquire and amplify genes specifically expressed in reproductive tissues. We speculate that the pressures that drive the acquisition of reproduction-related genes on sex chromosomes may be specific to the male germ line.
- Subjects :
- Male
0301 basic medicine
medicine.medical_specialty
X Chromosome
Lineage (genetic)
Gene Dosage
Biology
Y chromosome
Article
Birds
Evolution, Molecular
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Y Chromosome
Genetics
medicine
Animals
Humans
Gene
X chromosome
Mammals
Autosome
Cytogenetics
Sex Determination Processes
W chromosome
030104 developmental biology
Female
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Heterogametic sex
Transcription Factors
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 15461718 and 10614036
- Volume :
- 49
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Nature Genetics
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....4d64e5285b42dd3952717fb6dcd92505