The polytene chromosomes of Simulium furculatum (Shewell) (Diptera: Simuliidae)

Genome ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 522-530
Author(s):  
Fiona F. Hunter

To test whether Simulium furculatum (Shewell) belongs to the Simulium vernum (Macquart) species-group, a comparison was made of the polytene chromosomes of S. furculatum and the S. vernum "Knebworth" standard. Only two chromosome arms (of six) could be completely analysed. It is argued that S. furculatum does not belong to the S. vernum species-group. A complex sex-chromosome system (X1, X2, Y1) is found in both eastern and western Canada. Phylogenetically, the single Y chromosome is intermediate between the two X chromosomes. Intraspecific inversion polymorphisms, which serve to differentiate eastern from western populations, are also identified. Only one sibling is indicated.Key words: black flies, Simulium furculatum, Simulium vernum, cytotaxonomy, polytene chromosomes, sex chromosomes.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iulia Darolti ◽  
Alison E. Wright ◽  
Benjamin A. Sandkam ◽  
Jake Morris ◽  
Natasha I. Bloch ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTOnce recombination is halted between the X and Y chromosome, sex chromosomes begin to differentiate and transition to heteromorphism. While there is a remarkable variation across clades in the degree of sex chromosome divergence, far less is known about variation in sex chromosome differentiation within clades. Here, we combined whole genome and transcriptome sequencing data to characterise the structure and conservation of sex chromosome systems across Poeciliidae, the livebearing clade that includes guppies. We found that the Poecilia reticulata XY system is much older than previously thought, being shared not only with its sister species, Poecilia wingei, but also with Poecilia picta, which diverged 30 mya. Despite the shared ancestry, we uncovered an extreme heterogeneity across these species in the proportion of the sex chromosome with suppressed recombination, and the degree of Y chromosome decay. The sex chromosomes in P. reticulata are largely homomorphic, with recombination persisting over a substantial fraction. However, the sex chromosomes in P. picta are completely non-recombining and strikingly heteromorphic. ln addition to being highly divergent, the sex chromosome system in P. picta includes a neo-sex chromosome, the result of a fusion between the ancestral sex chromosome and part of chromosome 7. Remarkably, the profound degradation of the ancestral Y chromosome in P. picta is counterbalanced by the evolution of complete dosage compensation in this species, the first such documented case in teleost fish. Our results offer important insight into the initial stages of sex chromosome evolution and dosage compensation.



2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 965-977 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iulia Darolti ◽  
Alison E Wright ◽  
Judith E Mank

Abstract The loss of recombination triggers divergence between the sex chromosomes and promotes degeneration of the sex-limited chromosome. Several livebearers within the genus Poecilia share a male-heterogametic sex chromosome system that is roughly 20 Myr old, with extreme variation in the degree of Y chromosome divergence. In Poecilia picta, the Y is highly degenerate and associated with complete X chromosome dosage compensation. In contrast, although recombination is restricted across almost the entire length of the sex chromosomes in Poecilia reticulata and Poecilia wingei, divergence between the X chromosome and the Y chromosome is very low. This clade therefore offers a unique opportunity to study the forces that accelerate or hinder sex chromosome divergence. We used RNA-seq data from multiple families of both P. reticulata and P. wingei, the species with low levels of sex chromosome divergence, to differentiate X and Y coding sequences based on sex-limited SNP inheritance. Phylogenetic tree analyses reveal that occasional recombination has persisted between the sex chromosomes for much of their length, as X- and Y-linked sequences cluster by species instead of by gametolog. This incomplete recombination suppression maintains the extensive homomorphy observed in these systems. In addition, we see differences between the previously identified strata in the phylogenetic clustering of X–Y orthologs, with those that cluster by chromosome located in the older stratum, the region previously associated with the sex-determining locus. However, recombination arrest appears to have expanded throughout the sex chromosomes more gradually instead of through a stepwise process associated with inversions.



1982 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 411-422
Author(s):  
R. Benavente ◽  
R. Wettstein ◽  
M. Papa

An ultrastructural study was performed on the sex chromosomes (male X1X2X3O) during the spermatogenesis of Tegenaria domestica (Arachnida, Agelenidae). This study was carried out using random and serially cut sections. During pachytene and diplotene the three X chromosomes are longitudinally paired. Each of these consists of a central core of condensed chromatin, surrounded by a field of dense chromatin projections through which the chromosomes are in contact with one another. These projections may be responsible for the recognition and pairing of the sex chromosomes and in some way participate in their non-disjunction during anaphase I. A study of the structure and behaviour of the sex chromosomes during spermatogenesis is also presented. The available information on non-synaptonemal complex-mediated chromosome pairing and a systematization of sex chromosome structure in spiders are discussed.



2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (8) ◽  
pp. 964 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Daniel Kortschak ◽  
Enkhjargal Tsend-Ayush ◽  
Frank Grützner

Monotremes feature an extraordinary sex-chromosome system that consists of five X and five Y chromosomes in males. These sex chromosomes share homology with bird sex chromosomes but no homology with the therian X. The genome of a female platypus was recently completed, providing unique insights into sequence and gene content of autosomes and X chromosomes, but no Y-specific sequence has so far been analysed. Here we report the isolation, sequencing and analysis of ~700 kb of sequence of the non-recombining regions of Y2, Y3 and Y5, which revealed differences in base composition and repeat content between autosomes and sex chromosomes, and within the sex chromosomes themselves. This provides the first insights into repeat content of Y chromosomes in platypus, which overall show similar patterns of repeat composition to Y chromosomes in other species. Interestingly, we also observed differences between the various Y chromosomes, and in combination with timing and activity patterns we provide an approach that can be used to examine the evolutionary history of the platypus sex-chromosome chain.



2001 ◽  
Vol 79 (11) ◽  
pp. 1972-1979 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter H Adler ◽  
Eugenie A Kachvorian

The polytene chromosomes of Simulium noelleri from 16 sites in Armenia, Canada, England, Germany, Russia, and Sweden were analyzed. A standard map is proposed for the S. noelleri species-group that is 11 fixed inversions removed from the original standard map of the subgenus Simulium. Based on one shared subterminal inversion in the IIIL arm, the S. noelleri species-group is in a trichotomy with the S. bezzi and S. ornatum species-groups. Reproductive isolation of S. noelleri and S. decorum is demonstrated chromosomally at sites where both occur together. All analyzed populations of S. noelleri are considered conservatively to represent a single species, although at least three cytotypes are recognized, based primarily on different sex-chromosome systems. Cytotype A, representing the type species of S. noelleri, occurs in Germany, England, and western Russia. Cytotype B occupies Sweden and western Canada, emphasizing the intimate connection between the northern Nearctic and Palearctic simuliid faunas. Cytotype C is known only from Armenia.



2017 ◽  
Vol 153 (2) ◽  
pp. 96-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrik F. Viana ◽  
Tariq Ezaz ◽  
Leandro Marajó ◽  
Milena Ferreira ◽  
Jansen Zuanon ◽  
...  

The genus Colomesus is the sole representative of the family Tetraodontidae in the Amazon region. Here, Colomesus asellus was analyzed using conventional and molecular cytogenetic protocols. Its diploid chromosome number is 2n = 46 with 12 meta-, 10 submeta-, 16 subtelo-, and 8 acrocentric chromosomes and a fundamental number of FN = 84. An XX/XY sex chromosome system was identified. Mapping of 18S rDNA correlated with the nucleolus organizer regions (Ag-NORs) in the short arms of the 2 X chromosomes in females and in the Y chromosome in males. C-banding revealed heterochromatin in the centromeric regions of all chromosomes, except for pair 3. Prominent sex chromosome-specific heterochromatin amplification was observed, covering the short arms of the Y chromosome almost entirely. FISH with telomeric and tropomyosin (tpm1) sequences, respectively, revealed terminal signals in all chromosomes. The analysis of extended DNA fibers confirmed the colocalization and the interspersed pattern of the telomeric and tpm1 sequences. Thus, this study highlights the remarkable evolutionary dynamism presented by the Amazonian puffer fish regarding the differentiation of a heteromorphic XY sex chromosome system and a particular sex-specific amplification of rDNA sites. This is the first record of such an association in the Tetraodontidae family.



Genome ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 543-549 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. G. Leonhardt ◽  
R. M. Feraday

The pattern of sex-chromosome variation within and between species of the Eusimulium aureum species group of black flies is examined and used to support the argument that speciation in black flies is often an adaptive process. A pair of homosequential species in this group is presented as an exceptional case in black flies that does not argue against the chromosomally mediated speciation model.Key words: black flies, sex chromosomes, evolution.



Author(s):  
Aline Muyle ◽  
Doris Bachtrog ◽  
Gabriel A. B. Marais ◽  
James M. A. Turner

We review how epigenetics affect sex chromosome evolution in animals and plants. In a few species, sex is determined epigenetically through the action of Y-encoded small RNAs. Epigenetics is also responsible for changing the sex of individuals through time, even in species that carry sex chromosomes, and could favour species adaptation through breeding system plasticity. The Y chromosome accumulates repeats that become epigenetically silenced which leads to an epigenetic conflict with the expression of Y genes and could accelerate Y degeneration. Y heterochromatin can be lost through ageing, which activates transposable elements and lowers male longevity. Y chromosome degeneration has led to the evolution of meiotic sex chromosome inactivation in eutherians (placentals) and marsupials, and dosage compensation mechanisms in animals and plants. X-inactivation convergently evolved in eutherians and marsupials via two independently evolved non-coding RNAs. In Drosophila , male X upregulation by the male specific lethal (MSL) complex can spread to neo-X chromosomes through the transposition of transposable elements that carry an MSL-binding motif. We discuss similarities and possible differences between plants and animals and suggest future directions for this dynamic field of research. This article is part of the theme issue ‘How does epigenetics influence the course of evolution?’



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.



Cells ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 661
Author(s):  
Ikuo Miura ◽  
Foyez Shams ◽  
Si-Min Lin ◽  
Marcelo de Bello Cioffi ◽  
Thomas Liehr ◽  
...  

Translocation between sex-chromosomes and autosomes generates multiple sex-chromosome systems. It happens unexpectedly, and therefore, the evolutionary meaning is not clear. The current study shows a multiple sex chromosome system comprising three different chromosome pairs in a Taiwanese brown frog (Odorrana swinhoana). The male-specific three translocations created a system of six sex-chromosomes, ♂X1Y1X2Y2X3Y3 -♀X1X1X2X2X3X3. It is unique in that the translocations occurred among three out of the six members of potential sex-determining chromosomes, which are known to be involved in sex-chromosome turnover in frogs, and the two out of three include orthologs of the sex-determining genes in mammals, birds and fishes. This rare case suggests sex-specific, nonrandom translocations and thus provides a new viewpoint for the evolutionary meaning of the multiple sex chromosome system.



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