Satellite DNA Mapping in Pseudis fusca (Hylidae, Pseudinae) Provides New Insights into Sex Chromosome Evolution in Paradoxical Frogs

Abstract

In the frog genus Pseudis, previous works found a sex-linked heteromorphism of the PcP190 satellite DNA in the nucleolus organizer region (NOR)-bearing chromosome pairs of Pseudis bolbodactyla and Pseudis tocantins, which possess a ZZ/ZW sex determination system. A pericentromeric inversion was inferred to have occurred during W chromosome evolution, moving a chromosomal cluster enriched by the PcP190 from the short arm (as observed in P. bolbodactyla) to the NOR-bearing long arm (as observed in P. tocantins). However, whether such an inversion happened in P. tocantins or in the common ancestor of Pseudis fusca and P. tocantins remained unclear. To assess this question, we mapped PcP190 in the karyotype of P. fusca from three distinct localities. Southern blotting was used to compare males and females. The mitochondrial H1 fragment (which contains the 12S ribosomal RNA (rRNA), tRNAval, and 16S rRNA genes) and cytochrome b gene were partially sequenced, and a species tree was inferred to guide our analysis. Pseudis fusca specimens were placed together as the sister group of P. tocantins, but based on genetic distance, one of the analyzed populations is probably an undescribed species. A cluster of PcP190, located in the long arm of chromosome 7, is sex linked in this putative new species but not in the remaining P. fusca. We could infer that the pericentromeric inversion that moved the PcP190 site to the NOR-bearing chromosome arm (long arm) occurred in the common ancestor of P. fusca, the putative undescribed species, and P. tocantins.