Male/Female Trade-Off in Hermaphroditic Y-Chromosome Deletion Mutants of the Dioecious Plant <i>Silene latifolia</i>

Silene latifolia is a dioecious plant and has heteromorphic sex chromosomes: the X and Y chromosomes. The Y chromosome is the largest, and its genetic control seems to be most strict among dioecious plants. To identify the putative sex-determination elements on the Y chromosome, random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis was used to screen for Y chromosome specific DNA fragments, and 31 clones were successfully produced. Genomic Southern hybridization and FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridization) analyses revealed that one of the clones, #2-2, is a Y chromosome specific fragment that has a single copy on the Y chromosome. Sequence tagged site (STS)-PCR analysis also succeeded in amplifying one fragment in males and no fragments in females. Cloning and sequencing of the #2-2 flanking region using inverse PCR revealed an open reading frame (ORF) corresponding to 285 amino acids in length (ORF285), but no expression of the ORF285 gene was identified. ORF285 may be a clue to the origin of dioecy.Key words: Y chromosome, RAPD, STS, FISH, Melandrium album.

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Genetic and Functional Analysis of DD44, a Sex-Linked Gene From the Dioecious Plant Silene latifolia, Provides Clues to Early Events in Sex Chromosome Evolution

Genetics ◽

10.1093/genetics/163.1.321 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 163 (1) ◽

pp. 321-334 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Richard C Moore ◽

Olga Kozyreva ◽

Sabine Lebel-Hardenack ◽

Jiri Siroky ◽

Roman Hobza ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Y Chromosome ◽

Sex Chromosomes ◽

Chromosome Evolution ◽

Sex Chromosome ◽

Silene Latifolia ◽

Evolutionary Analysis ◽

Sex Chromosome Evolution ◽

Dioecious Plant ◽

Linked Gene ◽

Recent Emergence

Abstract Silene latifolia is a dioecious plant with heteromorphic sex chromosomes. The sex chromosomes of S. latifolia provide an opportunity to study the early events in sex chromosome evolution because of their relatively recent emergence. In this article, we present the genetic and physical mapping, expression analysis, and molecular evolutionary analysis of a sex-linked gene from S. latifolia, DD44 (Differential Display 44). DD44 is homologous to the oligomycin sensitivity-conferring protein, an essential component of the mitochondrial ATP synthase, and is ubiquitously expressed in both sexes. We have been able to genetically map DD44 to a region of the Y chromosome that is genetically linked to the carpel-suppressing locus. Although we have physically mapped DD44 to the distal end of the long arm of the X chromosome using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), DD44 maps to the opposite arm of the Y chromosome as determined by our genetic map. These data suggest that chromosomal rearrangements have occurred on the Y chromosome, which may have contributed to the genetic isolation of the Y chromosome. We discuss the implications of these results with respect to the structural and functional evolution of the S. latifolia Y chromosome.

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