Abstract
AbstractSex determination mechanisms evolve surprisingly rapidly, yet little is known in the large nematode phylum other than for Caenorhabditis elegans, which relies on chromosomal XX-XO sex determination and a dosage compensation mechanism. Here we analyze by sex-specific genome sequencing and genetic analysis sex determination in two fungal feeding/plant-parasitic Bursaphelenchus nematodes and find that their sex differentiation is more likely triggered by random, epigenetic regulation than by more well-known mechanisms of chromosomal or environmental sex determination. There is no detectable difference in male and female chromosomes, nor any linkage to sexual phenotype. Moreover, the protein sets of these nematodes lack genes involved in X chromosome dosage counting or compensation. By contrast, our genetic screen for sex differentiation mutants identifies a Bursaphelenchus ortholog of tra-1, the major output of the C. elegans sex determination cascade. Nematode sex determination pathways might have evolved by “bottom-up” accretion from the most downstream regulator, tra-1.
Funder
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Subject
General Physics and Astronomy,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology,General Chemistry,Multidisciplinary
Reference78 articles.
1. Haag, E. S. & Doty, A. V. Sex determination across evolution: connecting the dots. PLoS Biol. 3, e21 (2005).
2. Dübendorfer, A., Hediger, M., Burghardt, G. & Bopp, D. Musca domestica, a window on the evolution of sex-determining mechanisms in insects. Int. J. Dev. Biol. 46, 75–79 (2002).
3. Bachtrog, D. et al. Sex determination: why so many ways of doing it? PLoS Biol. 12, e1001899 (2014).
4. Berta, P. et al. Genetic evidence equating SRY and the testis-determining factor. Nature 348, 448–450 (1990).
5. Bridges, C. B. Sex in relation to chromosomes and genes. Am. Nat. 59, 127 (1925).
Cited by
20 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献，注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献，订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献