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Evolutionary analysis of the female-specific avian W chromosome

Smeds, Linnéa ; Warmuth, Vera ; Bolivar, Paulina LU ; Uebbing, Severin ; Burri, Reto ; Suh, Alexander ; Nater, Alexander ; Bureš, Stanislav ; Garamszegi, Laszlo Z and Hogner, Silje , et al. (2015) In Nature Communications 6.
Abstract

The typically repetitive nature of the sex-limited chromosome means that it is often excluded from or poorly covered in genome assemblies, hindering studies of evolutionary and population genomic processes in non-recombining chromosomes. Here, we present a draft assembly of the non-recombining region of the collared flycatcher W chromosome, containing 46 genes without evidence of female-specific functional differentiation. Survival of genes during W chromosome degeneration has been highly non-random and expression data suggest that this can be attributed to selection for maintaining gene dose and ancestral expression levels of essential genes. Re-sequencing of large population samples revealed dramatically reduced levels of... (More)

The typically repetitive nature of the sex-limited chromosome means that it is often excluded from or poorly covered in genome assemblies, hindering studies of evolutionary and population genomic processes in non-recombining chromosomes. Here, we present a draft assembly of the non-recombining region of the collared flycatcher W chromosome, containing 46 genes without evidence of female-specific functional differentiation. Survival of genes during W chromosome degeneration has been highly non-random and expression data suggest that this can be attributed to selection for maintaining gene dose and ancestral expression levels of essential genes. Re-sequencing of large population samples revealed dramatically reduced levels of within-species diversity and elevated rates of between-species differentiation (lineage sorting), consistent with low effective population size. Concordance between W chromosome and mitochondrial DNA phylogenetic trees demonstrates evolutionary stable matrilineal inheritance of this nuclear-cytonuclear pair of chromosomes. Our results show both commonalities and differences between W chromosome and Y chromosome evolution.

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publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Sex Chromosome Evolution, Birds/genetics, Phylogeny, DNA, Mitochondrial/genetics, Evolution, Molecular, Songbirds/genetics
in
Nature Communications
volume
6
article number
7330
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • pmid:26040272
  • scopus:84930665248
ISSN
2041-1723
DOI
10.1038/ncomms8330
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
b9078b44-f9ed-4ace-92d3-1185db0e3b85
date added to LUP
2024-05-14 11:19:18
date last changed
2024-11-13 23:42:17
@article{b9078b44-f9ed-4ace-92d3-1185db0e3b85,
  abstract     = {{<p>The typically repetitive nature of the sex-limited chromosome means that it is often excluded from or poorly covered in genome assemblies, hindering studies of evolutionary and population genomic processes in non-recombining chromosomes. Here, we present a draft assembly of the non-recombining region of the collared flycatcher W chromosome, containing 46 genes without evidence of female-specific functional differentiation. Survival of genes during W chromosome degeneration has been highly non-random and expression data suggest that this can be attributed to selection for maintaining gene dose and ancestral expression levels of essential genes. Re-sequencing of large population samples revealed dramatically reduced levels of within-species diversity and elevated rates of between-species differentiation (lineage sorting), consistent with low effective population size. Concordance between W chromosome and mitochondrial DNA phylogenetic trees demonstrates evolutionary stable matrilineal inheritance of this nuclear-cytonuclear pair of chromosomes. Our results show both commonalities and differences between W chromosome and Y chromosome evolution.</p>}},
  author       = {{Smeds, Linnéa and Warmuth, Vera and Bolivar, Paulina and Uebbing, Severin and Burri, Reto and Suh, Alexander and Nater, Alexander and Bureš, Stanislav and Garamszegi, Laszlo Z and Hogner, Silje and Moreno, Juan and Qvarnström, Anna and Ružić, Milan and Sæther, Stein-Are and Sætre, Glenn-Peter and Török, Janos and Ellegren, Hans}},
  issn         = {{2041-1723}},
  keywords     = {{Sex Chromosome Evolution; Birds/genetics; Phylogeny; DNA, Mitochondrial/genetics; Evolution, Molecular; Songbirds/genetics}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{06}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Nature Communications}},
  title        = {{Evolutionary analysis of the female-specific avian W chromosome}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms8330}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/ncomms8330}},
  volume       = {{6}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}