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Turnover of sex chromosomes in the stickleback fishes (gasterosteidae).

Ross, Joseph A and Urton, James R and Boland, Jessica and Shapiro, Michael D and Peichel, Catherine L (2009) Turnover of sex chromosomes in the stickleback fishes (gasterosteidae). PLoS genetics, 5 (2). e1000391. ISSN 1553-7404

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Article URL: http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info:doi/10.13...

Abstract

Diverse sex-chromosome systems are found in vertebrates, particularly in teleost fishes, where different systems can be found in closely related species. Several mechanisms have been proposed for the rapid turnover of sex chromosomes, including the transposition of an existing sex-determination gene, the appearance of a new sex-determination gene on an autosome, and fusions between sex chromosomes and autosomes. To better understand these evolutionary transitions, a detailed comparison of sex chromosomes between closely related species is essential. Here, we used genetic mapping and molecular cytogenetics to characterize the sex-chromosome systems of multiple stickleback species (Gasterosteidae). Previously, we demonstrated that male threespine stickleback fish (Gasterosteus aculeatus) have a heteromorphic XY pair corresponding to linkage group (LG) 19. In this study, we found that the ninespine stickleback (Pungitius pungitius) has a heteromorphic XY pair corresponding to LG12. In black-spotted stickleback (G. wheatlandi) males, one copy of LG12 has fused to the LG19-derived Y chromosome, giving rise to an X(1)X(2)Y sex-determination system. In contrast, neither LG12 nor LG19 is linked to sex in two other species: the brook stickleback (Culaea inconstans) and the fourspine stickleback (Apeltes quadracus). However, we confirmed the existence of a previously reported heteromorphic ZW sex-chromosome pair in the fourspine stickleback. The sex-chromosome diversity that we have uncovered in sticklebacks provides a rich comparative resource for understanding the mechanisms that underlie the rapid turnover of sex-chromosome systems.

Item Type: Article or Abstract
Additional Information: Copyright: © 2009 Ross et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1000391
PubMed ID: 19229325
PMCID: PMC2638011
Grant Numbers: R01 GM071854 , P50 HG02568, T32 GM07270 , T32 HG00035 , Burroughs Wellcome Career Award in the Biomedical Sciences, IOS 0744974
Keywords or MeSH Headings: * Animals * Crosses, Genetic * Evolution, Molecular * Female * Linkage (Genetics) * Male * Phylogeny * Sex Chromosomes/genetics* * Smegmamorpha/classification * Smegmamorpha/genetics*
Subjects: Molecules > Chromosomes
Organisms > Model organisms
Cellular and Organismal Processes > Reproduction
Depositing User: Library Staff
Date Deposited: 03 Mar 2009 00:17
Last Modified: 14 Feb 2012 14:42
URI: http://authors.fhcrc.org/id/eprint/254

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