Affiliation:
1. Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Passeig Marítim, 37-49, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
Abstract
The hypothesis that epigenetic mechanisms of gene expression regulation have two main roles in vertebrate sex is presented. First, and within a given generation, by contributing to the acquisition and maintenance of (i) the male
or
female function once during the lifetime in individuals of gonochoristic species; and (ii) the male
and
female function in the same individual, either at the same time in simultaneous hermaphrodites, or first as one sex and then as the other in sequential hermaphrodites. Second, if environmental conditions change, epigenetic mechanisms may have also a role across generations, by providing the necessary phenotypic plasticity to facilitate the transition: (i) from one sexual system to another, or (ii) from one sex-determining mechanism to another. Furthermore, if the environmental change lasts enough time, epimutations could facilitate assimilation into genetic changes that stabilize the new sexual system or sex-determining mechanism. Examples supporting these assertions are presented, caveats or difficulties and knowledge gaps identified, and possible ways to test this hypothesis suggested.
This article is part of the theme issue ‘Challenging the paradigm in sex chromosome evolution: empirical and theoretical insights with a focus on vertebrates (Part I)’.
Funder
Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
Subject
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
Cited by
27 articles.
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