Extraordinary Diversity in the Origins of Sex Chromosomes in Anurans Inferred from Comparative Gene Mapping

2015 ◽  
Vol 145 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 218-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshinobu Uno ◽  
Chizuko Nishida ◽  
Chiyo Takagi ◽  
Takeshi Igawa ◽  
Naoto Ueno ◽  
...  

Sex determination in frogs (anurans) is genetic and includes both male and female heterogamety. However, the origins of the sex chromosomes and their differentiation processes are poorly known. To investigate diversity in the origins of anuran sex chromosomes, we compared the chromosomal locations of sex-linked genes in 4 species: the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis), the Western clawed frog (Silurana/X. tropicalis), the Japanese bell-ring frog (Buergeria buergeri), and the Japanese wrinkled frog (Rana rugosa). Comparative mapping data revealed that the sex chromosomes of X. laevis, X. tropicalis and R. rugosa are different chromosome pairs; however, the sex chromosomes of X. tropicalis and B. buergeri are homologous, although this may represent distinct evolutionary origins. We also examined the status of sex chromosomal differentiation in B. buergeri, which possesses heteromorphic ZW sex chromosomes, using comparative genomic hybridization and chromosome painting with DNA probes from the microdissected W chromosome. At least 3 rearrangement events have occurred in the proto-W chromosome: deletion of the nucleolus organizer region and a paracentric inversion followed by amplification of non-W-specific repetitive sequences.

2019 ◽  
Vol 158 (3) ◽  
pp. 152-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo J. Gunski ◽  
Rafael Kretschmer ◽  
Marcelo Santos de Souza ◽  
Ivanete de Oliveira Furo ◽  
Suziane A. Barcellos ◽  
...  

Among birds, species with the ZZ/ZW sex determination system generally show significant differences in morphology and size between the Z and W chromosomes (with the W usually being smaller than the Z). In the present study, we report for the first time the karyotype of the spot-flanked gallinule (Gallinula melanops) by means of classical and molecular cytogenetics. The spot-flanked gallinule has 2n = 80 (11 pairs of macrochromosomes and 29 pairs of microchromosomes) with an unusual W chromosome that is larger than the Z. Besides being totally heterochromatic, it has a secondary constriction in its long arm corresponding to the nucleolar organizer region, as confirmed by both silver staining and mapping of 18S rDNA probes. This is an unprecedented fact among birds. Additionally, 18S rDNA sites were also observed in 6 microchromosomes, while 5S rDNA was found in just 1 microchromosomal pair. Seven out of the 11 used microsatellite sequences were found to be accumulated in microchromosomes, and 6 microsatellite sequences were found in the W chromosome. In addition to the involvement of heterochromatin and repetitive DNAs in the differentiation of the large W chromosome, the results also show an alternative scenario that highlights the plasticity that shapes the evolutionary history of bird sex chromosomes.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanzhen Liu ◽  
Jun Zheng ◽  
Pierre Migeon ◽  
Jie Ren ◽  
Ying Hu ◽  
...  

AbstractThe major component of complex genomes is repetitive elements, which remain recalcitrant to characterization. Using maize as a model system, we analyzed whole genome shotgun (WGS) sequences for the two maize inbred lines B73 and Mo17 using k-mer analysis to quantify the differences between the two genomes. Significant differences were identified in highly repetitive sequences, including centromere repeats, 45S ribosomal DNA (rDNA), knob, and telomere repeats. Previously unknown genotype specific 45S rDNA sequences were discovered. The B73-specific 45S rDNA is not only located on the nucleolus organizer region (NOR) on chromosome 6 but also dispersed on all the chromosomes in B73, indicating the relatively recent spread of 45S rDNA from the NOR. The B73 and Mo17 polymorphic k-mers were used to examine allele-specific expression of 45S rDNA. Although Mo17 contains higher copy number than B73, equivalent levels of overall 45S rDNA expression indicates that dosage compensation operates for the 45S rDNA in the hybrids. Using WGS sequences of B73xMo17 double haploids (DHs), genomic locations showing differential repetitive contents were genetically mapped. Analysis of WGS sequences of HapMap2 lines, including maize wild progenitor teosintes, landraces, and improved lines, decreases and increases in abundance of additional sets of k-mers associated with centromere repeats, 45S rDNA, knob, and retrotransposon sequences were found between teosinte and maize lines, revealing global evolutionary trends of genomic repeats during maize domestication and improvement.


Genes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Viana ◽  
Ezaz ◽  
de Bello Cioffi ◽  
Jackson Almeida ◽  
Feldberg

Amazonian puffing snakes (Spilotes; Colubridae) are snakes widely distributed in the Neotropical region. However, chromosomal data are scarce in this group and, when available, are only limited to karyotype description using conventional staining. In this paper, we focused on the process of karyotype evolution and trends for sex chromosomes in two Amazonian Puffer Snakes (S. pulllatus and S. sulphureus). We performed an extensive karyotype characterization using conventional and molecular cytogenetic approaches. The karyotype of S. sulphureus (presented here for the first time) exhibits a 2n = 36, similar to that previously described in S. pullatus. Both species have highly differentiated ZZ/ZW sex chromosomes, where the W chromosome is highly heterochromatic in S. pullatus but euchromatic in S. sulphureus. Both W chromosomes are homologous between these species as revealed by cross-species comparative genomic hybridization, even with heterogeneous distributions of several repetitive sequences across their genomes, including on the Z and on the W chromosomes. Our study provides evidence that W chromosomes in these two species have shared ancestry.


Genes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 617
Author(s):  
Álvaro S. Roco ◽  
Thomas Liehr ◽  
Adrián Ruiz-García ◽  
Kateryna Guzmán ◽  
Mónica Bullejos

Xenopus laevis and its diploid relative, Xenopus tropicalis, are the most used amphibian models. Their genomes have been sequenced, and they are emerging as model organisms for research into disease mechanisms. Despite the growing knowledge on their genomes based on data obtained from massive genome sequencing, basic research on repetitive sequences in these species is lacking. This study conducted a comparative analysis of repetitive sequences in X. laevis and X. tropicalis. Genomic in situ hybridization (GISH) and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with Cot DNA of both species revealed a conserved enrichment of repetitive sequences at the ends of the chromosomes in these Xenopus species. The repeated sequences located on the short arm of chromosome 3 from X. tropicalis were not related to the sequences on the short arm of chromosomes 3L and 3S from X. laevis, although these chromosomes were homoeologous, indicating that these regions evolved independently in these species. Furthermore, all the other repetitive sequences in X. tropicalis and X. laevis may be species-specific, as they were not revealed in cross-species hybridizations. Painting experiments in X. laevis with chromosome 7 from X. tropicalis revealed shared sequences with the short arm of chromosome 3L. These regions could be related by the presence of the nucleolus organizer region (NOR) in both chromosomes, although the region revealed by chromosome painting in the short arm of chromosome 3L in X. laevis did not correspond to 18S + 28S rDNA sequences, as they did not colocalize. The identification of these repeated sequences is of interest as they provide an explanation to some problems already described in the genome assemblies of these species. Furthermore, the distribution of repetitive DNA in the genomes of X. laevis and X. tropicalis might be a valuable marker to assist us in understanding the genome evolution in a group characterized by numerous polyploidization events coupled with hybridizations.


1996 ◽  
Vol 250 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-128
Author(s):  
Georg Haberer ◽  
Thilo C. Fischer ◽  
Ramón A. Torres-Ruiz

Science ◽  
1979 ◽  
Vol 205 (4403) ◽  
pp. 308-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
RH Myers ◽  
DA Shafer

The serendipitous mating of a male gibbon, Hylobates moloch, and a female siamang, Symphalangus syndactylus, has produced two female offspring born 1 year apart. The hybrid karyotype of 47 chromosomes comprises the haploid complements of the parental species, 22 for the gibbon and 25 for the siamang. Chromosomal G and C banding comparisons revealed no clear homologies between the parental karyotypes except for the single chromosome in each species containing the nucleolus organizer region. The lack of homology suggests that the structural rearrangement of chromosomes has played a major role in the process of speciation for these lesser apes.


1988 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer A. Marshall Graves ◽  
Garey W. Dawson

SummaryIn marsupials, X chromosome inactivation is paternal and incomplete. The tissue-specific pattern of inactivation of X-linked loci (G6PD, PGK, GLA) has been attributed to a piecemeal inactivation of different regions of the X. We here propose an alternative hypothesis, in which inactivation of the marsupial X is a chromosome-wide event, but is differentially regulated in different tissues. This hypothesis was suggested by the relationship between the positions and activity of genes on the kangaroo paternal X. In the absence of an HPRT polymorphism, we have used somatic cell hybridization to assess the activity of the paternal HPRT allele in lymphocytes and fibroblasts. The absence of the paternal X, and of the paternal forms of G6PD or PGK, from 33 cell hybrids made by fusing HPRT-deficient rodent cells with lymphocytes or fibroblasts of heterozygous females, suggests that the HPRT gene on the paternal X is inactive in both tissues and therefore not selectable. Since HPRT is located medially on the Xq near GLA, which shares the same characteristics of activity, we suggest that the locus-specific and tissue-specific patterns of activity result from a differential spread of inactivation from a single control locus, located near HPRT and GLA, outwards in both directions to G6PD and PGK. The nucleolus organizer region on the short arm does not seem to be part of the inactivated unit.


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