MULTIPLE SEX CHROMOSOMES AND CONFIGURATION POLYMORPHISM IN THE MONOCHAMUS SCUTELLATUS-OREGONENSIS COMPLEX (COLEOPTERA: CERAMBYCIDAE)

1970 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 947-951 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. N. Lanier ◽  
A. G. Raskf

Fission-fusion polymorphism of the X chromosome and multiple sex chromosome configurations were observed in the Monochamus scutellatus-oregonensis complex. Segregation of fission X chromosomes opposite the Y is ensured by nucleolar orientation. However, occasional XY gametes may result when one X becomes disjoined from the nucleolus before the first meiotic division.

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yisrael Rappaport ◽  
Hanna Achache ◽  
Roni Falk ◽  
Omer Murik ◽  
Oren Ram ◽  
...  

AbstractDuring meiosis, gene expression is silenced in aberrantly unsynapsed chromatin and in heterogametic sex chromosomes. Initiation of sex chromosome silencing is disrupted in meiocytes with sex chromosome-autosome translocations. To determine whether this is due to aberrant synapsis or loss of continuity of sex chromosomes, we engineered Caenorhabditis elegans nematodes with non-translocated, bisected X chromosomes. In early meiocytes of mutant males and hermaphrodites, X segments are enriched with euchromatin assembly markers and active RNA polymerase II staining, indicating active transcription. Analysis of RNA-seq data showed that genes from the X chromosome are upregulated in gonads of mutant worms. Contrary to previous models, which predicted that any unsynapsed chromatin is silenced during meiosis, our data indicate that unsynapsed X segments are transcribed. Therefore, our results suggest that sex chromosome chromatin has a unique character that facilitates its meiotic expression when its continuity is lost, regardless of whether or not it is synapsed.


1979 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 375 ◽  
Author(s):  
JD Murray ◽  
GM McKay ◽  
GB Sharman

The greater glider, currently but incorrectly known as Schoinobates vo/ans, is widely distributed in forested regions in eastern Australia. All animals studied from six different localities had 20 autosomes but there were four chromosomally distinct populations. At Royal National Park, N.S.W., all female greater gliders studied had 22 chromosomes including two large submetacentric X chromosomes with subterminal secondary constrictions in their longer arms. This form of X chromosome occurred also at Bondo State Forest, Myall Lakes and Coff's Harbour, N.S.W., and at Eidsvold, Qld. At Coomooboolaroo, Qld, the X chromosome was also a large submetacentric but a secondary constriction occurred in the shorter arm. Two chromosomally distinct types apparently occur in Royal National Park, one with XY m,ales as in all other populations, and one with XY1Y2 males. Y or Yb but not Y 2, chromosomes were eliminated from the bone marrow in all populations but were present in spermatogonia, primary sperrnatocytes and cultured fibroblasts. Animals from Bondo State Forest had three or more acrocentric or metacentric supernumerary chromosomes. [Other keywords: C-banding, eytotaxonomy, multiple sex chromosomes, XY bivalent.]


Genetics ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 138 (3) ◽  
pp. 787-790
Author(s):  
P R da Cunha ◽  
B Granadino ◽  
A L Perondini ◽  
L Sánchez

Abstract Dosage compensation refers to the process whereby females and males with different doses of sex chromosomes have similar amounts of products from sex chromosome-linked genes. We analyzed the process of dosage compensation in Sciara ocellaris, Diptera of the suborder Nematocera. By autoradiography and measurements of X-linked rRNA in females (XX) and males (XO), we found that the rate of transcription of the single X chromosome in males is similar to that of the two X chromosomes in females. This, together with the bloated appearance of the X chromosome in males, support the idea that in sciarids dosage compensation is accomplished by hypertranscription of the X chromosome in males.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica M Sheffer ◽  
Mathilde M Cordellier ◽  
Martin Forman ◽  
Malte Grewoldt ◽  
Katharina Hoffmann ◽  
...  

Differences between sexes in growth, ecology and behavior strongly shape species biology. In some animal groups, such as spiders, it is difficult or impossible to identify the sex of juveniles. This information would be useful for field surveys, behavioral experiments, and ecological studies on e.g. sex ratios and dispersal. In species with sex chromosomes, sex can be determined based on the specific sex chromosome complement. Additionally, information on the sequence of sex chromosomes provides the basis for studying sex chromosome evolution. We combined cytogenetic and genomic data to identify the sex chromosomes in the sexually dimorphic spider Argiope bruennichi, and designed RT-qPCR sex markers. We found that genome size and GC content of this spider falls into the range reported for the majority of araneids. The male karyotype is formed by 24 acrocentric chromosomes with an X1X20 sex chromosome system, with little similarity between X chromosomes, suggesting origin of these chromosomes by X chromosome fission or early duplication of an X chromosome and subsequent independent differentiation of the copies. Our data suggest similarly sized X chromosomes in A. bruennichi. They are smaller chromosomes of the complement. Our findings open the door to new directions in spider evolutionary and ecological research.


2016 ◽  
Vol 149 (4) ◽  
pp. 282-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michail Rovatsos ◽  
Martina Johnson Pokorná ◽  
Marie Altmanová ◽  
Lukáš Kratochvíl

Geckos in general show extensive variability in sex determining systems, but only male heterogamety has been demonstrated in the members of their legless family Pygopodidae. In the pioneering study published more than 45 years ago, multiple sex chromosomes of the type X1X1X2X2/X1X2Y were described in Burton's legless lizard (Lialisburtonis) based on conventional cytogenetic techniques. We conducted cytogenetic analyses including comparative genomic hybridization and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with selected cytogenetic markers in this species and the previously cytogenetically unstudied Papua snake lizard (Lialis jicari) to better understand the nature of these sex chromosomes and their differentiation. Both species possess male heterogamety with an X1X1X2X2/X1X2Y sex chromosome system; however, the Y and one of the X chromosomes are not small chromosomes as previously reported in L. burtonis, but the largest macrochromosomal pair in the karyotype. The Y chromosomes in both species have large heterochromatic blocks with extensive accumulations of GATA and AC microsatellite motifs. FISH with telomeric probe revealed an exclusively terminal position of telomeric sequences in L. jicari (2n = 42 chromosomes in females), but extensive interstitial signals, potentially remnants of chromosomal fusions, in L.burtonis (2n = 34 in females). Our study shows that even largely differentiated and heteromorphic sex chromosomes might be misidentified by conventional cytogenetic analyses and that the application of more sensitive cytogenetic techniques for the identification of sex chromosomes is beneficial even in the classical examples of multiple sex chromosomes.


Genetics ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 165 (3) ◽  
pp. 1317-1328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryant F McAllister

Abstract Sex chromosomes originate from pairs of autosomes that acquire controlling genes in the sex-determining cascade. Universal mechanisms apparently influence the evolution of sex chromosomes, because this chromosomal pair is characteristically heteromorphic in a broad range of organisms. To examine the pattern of initial differentiation between sex chromosomes, sequence analyses were performed on a pair of newly formed sex chromosomes in Drosophila americana. This species has neo-sex chromosomes as a result of a centromeric fusion between the X chromosome and an autosome. Sequences were analyzed from the Alcohol dehydrogenase (Adh), big brain (bib), and timeless (tim) gene regions, which represent separate positions along this pair of neo-sex chromosomes. In the northwestern range of the species, the bib and Adh regions exhibit significant sequence differentiation for neo-X chromosomes relative to neo-Y chromosomes from the same geographic region and other chromosomal populations of D. americana. Furthermore, a nucleotide site defining a common haplotype in bib is shown to be associated with a paracentric inversion [In(4)ab] on the neo-X chromosome, and this inversion suppresses recombination between neo-X and neo-Y chromosomes. These observations are consistent with the inversion acting as a recombination modifier that suppresses exchange between these neo-sex chromosomes, as predicted by models of sex chromosome evolution.


2005 ◽  
Vol 85 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
ADRIEN FRANTZ ◽  
MANUEL PLANTEGENEST ◽  
JOËL BONHOMME ◽  
NATHALIE PRUNIER-LETERME ◽  
JEAN-CHRISTOPHE SIMON

The typical life cycle of aphids involves several parthenogenetic generations followed by a single sexual one in autumn, i.e. cyclical parthenogenesis. Sexual females are genetically identical to their parthenogenetic mothers and carry two sex chromosomes (XX). Male production involves the elimination of one sex chromosome (to produce X0) that could give rise to genetic conflicts between X-chromosomes. In addition, deleterious recessive mutations could accumulate on sex chromosomes during the parthenogenetic phase and affect males differentially depending on the X-chromosome they inherit. Genetic conflicts and deleterious mutations thus may induce transmission bias that could be exaggerated in males. Here, the transmission of X-chromosomes has been studied in the laboratory in two cyclically parthenogenetic lineages of the bird cherry-oat aphid Rhopalosiphum padi. X-chromosome transmission was followed, using X-linked microsatellite loci, at male production in the two lineages and in their hybrids deriving from reciprocal crosses. Genetic analyses revealed non-Mendelian inheritance of X-chromosomes in both parental and hybrid lineages at different steps of male function. Putative mechanisms and evolutionary consequences of non-Mendelian transmission of X-chromosomes to males are discussed.


Genetics ◽  
1972 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-286
Author(s):  
Bruce S Baker ◽  
Adelaide T C Carpenter

ABSTRACT A total of 209 ethyl methanesulfonate-treated X chromosomes were screened for meiotic mutants that either (1) increased sex or fourth chromosome nondisjunction at either meiotic division in males; (2) allowed recombination in such males; (3) increased nondisjunction of the X chromosome at either meiotic division in females; or (4) caused such females, when mated to males heterozygous for Segregation-Distorter (SD) and a sensitive homolog to alter the strength of meiotic drive in males.—Twenty male-specific meiotic mutants were found. Though the rates of nondisjunction differed, all twenty mutants were qualitatively similar in that (1) they alter the disjunction of the X chromosome from the Y chromosome; (2) among the recovered sex-chromosome exceptional progeny, there is a large excess of those derived from nullo-XY as compared to XY gametes; (3) there is a negative correlation between the frequency of sex-chromosome exceptional progeny and the frequency of males among the regular progeny. In their effects on meiosis these mutants are similar to In(1)sc4Lsc8R, which is deleted for the basal heterochromatin. These mutants, however, have normal phenotypes and viabilities when examined as X/0 males, and furthermore, a mapping of two of the mutants places them in the euchromatin of the X chromosome. It is suggested that these mutants are in genes whose products are involved in insuring the proper functioning of the basal pairing sites which are deleted in In(1)sc4Lsc8R, and in addition that there is a close connection, perhaps causal, between the disruption of normal X-Y pairing (and, therefore, disjunction) and the occurrence of meiotic drive in the male.—Eleven mutants were found which increased nondisjunction in females. These mutants were characterized as to (1) the division at which they acted; (2) their effect on recombination; (3) their dominance; (4) their effects on disjunction of all four chromosome pairs. Five female mutants caused a nonuniform decrease in recombination, being most pronounced in distal regions, and an increase in first division nondisjunction of all chromosome pairs. Their behavior is consistent with the hypothesis that these mutants are defective in a process which is a precondition for exchange. Two female mutants were allelic and caused a uniform reduction in recombination for all intervals (though to different extents for the two alleles) and an increase in first-division nondisjunction of all chromosomes. Limited recombination data suggest that these mutants do not alter coincidence, and thus, following the arguments of Sandler et al. (1968), are defective in exchange rather than a precondiiton for exchange. A single female mutant behaves in a manner that is consistent with it being a defect in a gene whose functioning is essential for distributive pairing. Three of the female meiotic mutants cause abnormal chromosome behavior at a number of times in meiosis. Thus, nondisjunction at both meiotic divisions is increased, recombinant chromosomes nondisjoin, and there is a polarized alteration in recombination.—The striking differences between the types of control of meiosis in the two sexes is discussed and attention is drawn to the possible similarities between (1) the disjunction functions of exchange and the process specified by the chromosome-specific male mutants; and (2) the prevention of functional aneuploid gamete formation by distributive disjunction and meiotic drive.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryoma Ota ◽  
Makoto Hayashi ◽  
Shumpei Morita ◽  
Hiroki Miura ◽  
Satoru Kobayashi

AbstractDosage compensation is a mechanism that equalizes sex chromosome gene expression between the sexes. In Drosophila, individuals with two X chromosomes (XX) become female, whereas males have one X chromosome (XY). In males, dosage compensation of the X chromosome in the soma is achieved by five proteins and two non-coding RNAs, which assemble into the male-specific lethal (MSL) complex to upregulate X-linked genes twofold. By contrast, it remains unclear whether dosage compensation occurs in the germline. To address this issue, we performed transcriptome analysis of male and female primordial germ cells (PGCs). We found that the expression levels of X-linked genes were approximately twofold higher in female PGCs than in male PGCs. Acetylation of lysine residue 16 on histone H4 (H4K16ac), which is catalyzed by the MSL complex, was undetectable in these cells. In male PGCs, hyperactivation of X-linked genes and H4K16ac were induced by overexpression of the essential components of the MSL complex, which were expressed at very low levels in PGCs. Together, these findings indicate that failure of MSL complex formation results in the absence of X-chromosome dosage compensation in male PGCs.


2016 ◽  
Vol 148 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
James A. Birchler

Dosage compensation in Drosophila involves an approximately 2-fold increase in expression of the single X chromosome in males compared to the per gene expression in females with 2 X chromosomes. Two models have been considered for an explanation. One proposes that the male-specific lethal (MSL) complex that is associated with the male X chromosome brings histone modifiers to the sex chromosome to increase its expression. The other proposes that the inverse effect which results from genomic imbalance would tend to upregulate the genome approximately 2-fold, but the MSL complex sequesters histone modifiers from the autosomes to the X to mute this autosomal male-biased expression. On the X, the MSL complex must override the high level of resulting histone modifications to prevent overcompensation of the X chromosome. Each model is evaluated in terms of fitting classical genetic and recent molecular data. Potential paths toward resolving the models are suggested.


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