scholarly journals Discovery of Putative XX/XY Male Heterogamety in Emydura subglobosa Turtles Exposes a Novel Trajectory of Sex Chromosome Evolution in Emydura

2019 ◽  
Vol 158 (3) ◽  
pp. 160-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
LingSze Lee ◽  
Eugenia E. Montiel ◽  
Nicole Valenzuela

The discovery of sex chromosome systems in non-model organisms has elicited growing recognition that sex chromosomes evolved via diverse paths that are not fully elucidated. Lineages with labile sex determination, such as turtles, hold critical cues, yet data are skewed toward hide-neck turtles (suborder Cryptodira) and scant for side-neck turtles (suborder Pleurodira). Here, we used classic and molecular cytogenetics to investigate Emydura subglobosa (ESU), an unstudied side-neck turtle with genotypic sex determination from the family Chelidae, where extensive morphological divergence exists among XX/XY systems. Our data represent the first cytogenetic description for ESU. Similarities were found between ESU and E. macquarii (EMA), such as identical chromosome number (2n = 50), a single and dimorphic nucleolus organizer region (NOR) localized in a microchromosome pair (ESU14) of both sexes (detected via FISH of 18S rDNA). Only the larger NOR is active (detected by silver staining). As in EMA, comparative genome hybridization revealed putative macro XX/XY chromosomes in ESU (the 4th largest pair). Our comparative analyses and revaluation of previous data strongly support the hypothesis that Emydura's XX/XY system evolved via fusion of an ancestral micro-Y (retained by Chelodina longicollis) onto a macro-autosome. This evolutionary trajectory differs from the purported independent evolution of XX/XY from separate ancestral autosomes in Chelodina and Emydura that was previously reported. Our data permit dating this Y-autosome fusion to at least the split of Emydura around 45 Mya and add critical information about the evolution of the remarkable diversity of sex-determining mechanisms in turtles, reptiles, and vertebrates.

2017 ◽  
Vol 152 (4) ◽  
pp. 194-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
José F. de Souza e Sousa ◽  
Patrik F. Viana ◽  
Luiz A.C. Bertollo ◽  
Marcelo B. Cioffi ◽  
Eliana Feldberg

Ctenoluciidae is a Neotropical freshwater fish family whose representatives are known as bicudas. The genus Boulengerella contains 5 species, and 4 of them (B. cuvieri, B. lateristriga, B. lucius, and B. maculata) were cytogenetically analyzed in the present study by conventional and molecular procedures. All 4 species have a very similar karyotype, with 2n = 36 chromosomes (14 metacentrics + 16 submetacentrics + 6 subtelocentrics; FN = 72). However, the heterochromatin distribution pattern is species-specific. In all 4 species, the nucleolus organizer region is located in pair 18, as also confirmed by cytogenetic mapping of 18S rDNA. In turn, 5S rRNA genes are present in 2 chromosome pairs: in pair 1 of all 4 species, and in pair 10 of B. lateristriga, B. maculata, and B. cuvieri, but in pair 4 of B. lucius. The telomeric probe highlighted terminal regions in all chromosomes, as well as an interstitial centromeric sequence in pair 3 of the 3 first-mentioned species. Notably, a conspicuous heteromorphic secondary constriction in chromosomes 18 was found only in the males of the 3 species, rendering one of the homologs much larger than the other one. This feature, associated with a large 18S rDNA block and accumulation of telomeric sequences, suggests the presence of an XX/XY sex chromosome system in the analyzed Boulengerella species.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 411-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luciene Castuera de Oliveira ◽  
Marcos Otávio Ribeiro ◽  
Gerlane de Medeiros Costa ◽  
Cláudio Henrique Zawadzki ◽  
Ana Camila Prizon-Nakajima ◽  
...  

In the present study, we analyzed individuals of Hypostomus soniae (Loricariidae) collected from the Teles Pires River, southern Amazon basin, Brazil. Hypostomus soniae has a diploid chromosome number of 2n = 64 and a karyotype composed of 12 metacentric (m), 22 submetacentric (sm), 14 subtelocentric (st), and 16 acrocentric (a) chromosomes, with a structural difference between the chromosomes of the two sexes: the presence of a block of heterochromatin in sm pair No. 26, which appears to represent a putative initial stage of the differentiation of an XX/XY sex chromosome system. This chromosome, which had a heterochromatin block, and was designated proto-Y (pY), varied in the length of the long arm (q) in comparison with its homolog, resulting from the addition of constitutive heterochromatin. It is further distinguished by the presence of major ribosomal cistrons in a subterminal position of the long arm (q). The Nucleolus Organizer Region (NOR) had different phenotypes among the H. soniae individuals in terms of the number of Ag-NORs and 18S rDNA sites. The origin, distribution and maintenance of the chromosomal polymorphism found in H. soniae reinforced the hypothesis of the existence of a proto-Y chromosome, demonstrating the rise of an XX/XY sex chromosome system.


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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