Sex-biased gene expression on the avian z chromosome: highly expressed genes show higher male-biased expression.
Naurin, Sara LU ; Hasselquist, Dennis LU ; Bensch, Staffan LU and Hansson, Bengt LU
(2012)
In PLoS ONE
7(10).
- Abstract
- Dosage compensation, the process whereby expression of sex-linked genes remains similar between sexes (despite heterogamety) and balanced with autosomal expression, was long believed to be essential. However, recent research has shown that several lineages, including birds, butterflies, monotremes and sticklebacks, lack chromosome-wide dosage compensation mechanisms and do not completely balance the expression of sex-linked and autosomal genes. To obtain further understanding of avian sex-biased gene expression, we studied Z-linked gene expression in the brain of two songbirds of different genera (zebra finch, Taeniopygia guttata, and common whitethroat, Sylvia communis) using microarray technology. In both species, the male-bias in gene... (More)
- Dosage compensation, the process whereby expression of sex-linked genes remains similar between sexes (despite heterogamety) and balanced with autosomal expression, was long believed to be essential. However, recent research has shown that several lineages, including birds, butterflies, monotremes and sticklebacks, lack chromosome-wide dosage compensation mechanisms and do not completely balance the expression of sex-linked and autosomal genes. To obtain further understanding of avian sex-biased gene expression, we studied Z-linked gene expression in the brain of two songbirds of different genera (zebra finch, Taeniopygia guttata, and common whitethroat, Sylvia communis) using microarray technology. In both species, the male-bias in gene expression was significantly higher for Z than for autosomes, although the ratio of Z-linked to autosomal expression (Z:A) was relatively close to one in both sexes (range: 0.89-1.01). Interestingly, the Z-linked male-bias in gene expression increased with expression level, and genes with low expression showed the lowest degree of sex-bias. These results support the view that the heterogametic females have up-regulated their single Z-linked homologues to a high extent when the W-chromosome degraded and thereby managed to largely balance their Z:A expression with the exception of highly expressed genes. The male-bias in highly expressed genes points towards male-driven selection on Z-linked loci, and this and other possible hypotheses are discussed. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/3160839
- author
- Naurin, Sara
LU
; Hasselquist, Dennis
LU
; Bensch, Staffan
LU
and Hansson, Bengt
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2012
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- PLoS ONE
- volume
- 7
- issue
- 10
- article number
- e46854
- publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000309454000095
- pmid:23056488
- scopus:84867094991
- pmid:23056488
- ISSN
- 1932-6203
- DOI
- 10.1371/journal.pone.0046854
- project
- Evolution of sex chromosomes in birds
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 2651aa5c-9771-4b60-b14e-17f067cdf8ec (old id 3160839)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-04 09:40:49
- date last changed
- 2022-01-29 19:04:56
@article{2651aa5c-9771-4b60-b14e-17f067cdf8ec,
abstract = {{Dosage compensation, the process whereby expression of sex-linked genes remains similar between sexes (despite heterogamety) and balanced with autosomal expression, was long believed to be essential. However, recent research has shown that several lineages, including birds, butterflies, monotremes and sticklebacks, lack chromosome-wide dosage compensation mechanisms and do not completely balance the expression of sex-linked and autosomal genes. To obtain further understanding of avian sex-biased gene expression, we studied Z-linked gene expression in the brain of two songbirds of different genera (zebra finch, Taeniopygia guttata, and common whitethroat, Sylvia communis) using microarray technology. In both species, the male-bias in gene expression was significantly higher for Z than for autosomes, although the ratio of Z-linked to autosomal expression (Z:A) was relatively close to one in both sexes (range: 0.89-1.01). Interestingly, the Z-linked male-bias in gene expression increased with expression level, and genes with low expression showed the lowest degree of sex-bias. These results support the view that the heterogametic females have up-regulated their single Z-linked homologues to a high extent when the W-chromosome degraded and thereby managed to largely balance their Z:A expression with the exception of highly expressed genes. The male-bias in highly expressed genes points towards male-driven selection on Z-linked loci, and this and other possible hypotheses are discussed.}},
author = {{Naurin, Sara and Hasselquist, Dennis and Bensch, Staffan and Hansson, Bengt}},
issn = {{1932-6203}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{10}},
publisher = {{Public Library of Science (PLoS)}},
series = {{PLoS ONE}},
title = {{Sex-biased gene expression on the avian z chromosome: highly expressed genes show higher male-biased expression.}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0046854}},
doi = {{10.1371/journal.pone.0046854}},
volume = {{7}},
year = {{2012}},
}