For Publishers
DiscoveryMetadataPeer reviewHostingPublishing
For Researchers
JoinPublishReviewCollect
Register
Blog
About
Search
Advanced search
My ScienceOpen
Search
For Publishers
For Researchers
Blog
About
51
views
85
references
 Top references
cited by
119
    
0 reviews
 Review
0
comments
 Comment
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      244
      similar
       All similar
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found
      Is Open Access

      How to make a sex chromosome

      review-article

      Read this article at

      ScienceOpenPublisherPMC
      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          Sex chromosomes can evolve once recombination is halted between a homologous pair of chromosomes. Owing to detailed studies using key model systems, we have a nuanced understanding and a rich review literature of what happens to sex chromosomes once recombination is arrested. However, three broad questions remain unanswered. First, why do sex chromosomes stop recombining in the first place? Second, how is recombination halted? Finally, why does the spread of recombination suppression, and therefore the rate of sex chromosome divergence, vary so substantially across clades? In this review, we consider each of these three questions in turn to address fundamental questions in the field, summarize our current understanding, and highlight important areas for future work.

          Abstract

          Sex chromosome evolution begins when recombination between a homologous pair of chromosomes is halted. Here, Wright et al. review our current understanding of the causes and mechanisms of recombination suppression between incipient sex chromosomes and suggest future directions for the field.

          Related collections

          Most cited references85

          • Record: found
          • Abstract: found
          • Article: not found

          Y-chromosome evolution: emerging insights into processes of Y-chromosome degeneration.

          Doris Bachtrog (2013)
          The human Y chromosome is intriguing not only because it harbours the master-switch gene that determines gender but also because of its unusual evolutionary history. The Y chromosome evolved from an autosome, and its evolution has been characterized by massive gene decay. Recent whole-genome and transcriptome analyses of Y chromosomes in humans and other primates, in Drosophila species and in plants have shed light on the current gene content of the Y chromosome, its origins and its long-term fate. Furthermore, comparative analysis of young and old Y chromosomes has given further insights into the evolutionary and molecular forces triggering Y-chromosome degeneration and into the evolutionary destiny of the Y chromosome.
          Article 0 comments Cited 334 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
            Bookmark
            • Record: found
            • Abstract: found
            • Article: not found

            Fine-scale recombination rate differences between sexes, populations and individuals.

            Augustine Kong, Gudmar Thorleifsson, Daniel Gudbjartsson … (2010)
            Meiotic recombinations contribute to genetic diversity by yielding new combinations of alleles. Recently, high-resolution recombination maps were inferred from high-density single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data using linkage disequilibrium (LD) patterns that capture historical recombination events. The use of these maps has been demonstrated by the identification of recombination hotspots and associated motifs, and the discovery that the PRDM9 gene affects the proportion of recombinations occurring at hotspots. However, these maps provide no information about individual or sex differences. Moreover, locus-specific demographic factors like natural selection can bias LD-based estimates of recombination rate. Existing genetic maps based on family data avoid these shortcomings, but their resolution is limited by relatively few meioses and a low density of markers. Here we used genome-wide SNP data from 15,257 parent-offspring pairs to construct the first recombination maps based on directly observed recombinations with a resolution that is effective down to 10 kilobases (kb). Comparing male and female maps reveals that about 15% of hotspots in one sex are specific to that sex. Although male recombinations result in more shuffling of exons within genes, female recombinations generate more new combinations of nearby genes. We discover novel associations between recombination characteristics of individuals and variants in the PRDM9 gene and we identify new recombination hotspots. Comparisons of our maps with two LD-based maps inferred from data of HapMap populations of Utah residents with ancestry from northern and western Europe (CEU) and Yoruba in Ibadan, Nigeria (YRI) reveal population differences previously masked by noise and map differences at regions previously described as targets of natural selection.
            Article 0 comments Cited 294 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
              Bookmark
              • Record: found
              • Abstract: found
              • Article: not found

              Chromosomal rearrangements maintain a polymorphic supergene controlling butterfly mimicry.

              Mathieu Joron, Lise Frezal, Robert Jones … (2011)
              Supergenes are tight clusters of loci that facilitate the co-segregation of adaptive variation, providing integrated control of complex adaptive phenotypes. Polymorphic supergenes, in which specific combinations of traits are maintained within a single population, were first described for 'pin' and 'thrum' floral types in Primula and Fagopyrum, but classic examples are also found in insect mimicry and snail morphology. Understanding the evolutionary mechanisms that generate these co-adapted gene sets, as well as the mode of limiting the production of unfit recombinant forms, remains a substantial challenge. Here we show that individual wing-pattern morphs in the polymorphic mimetic butterfly Heliconius numata are associated with different genomic rearrangements at the supergene locus P. These rearrangements tighten the genetic linkage between at least two colour-pattern loci that are known to recombine in closely related species, with complete suppression of recombination being observed in experimental crosses across a 400-kilobase interval containing at least 18 genes. In natural populations, notable patterns of linkage disequilibrium (LD) are observed across the entire P region. The resulting divergent haplotype clades and inversion breakpoints are found in complete association with wing-pattern morphs. Our results indicate that allelic combinations at known wing-patterning loci have become locked together in a polymorphic rearrangement at the P locus, forming a supergene that acts as a simple switch between complex adaptive phenotypes found in sympatry. These findings highlight how genomic rearrangements can have a central role in the coexistence of adaptive phenotypes involving several genes acting in concert, by locally limiting recombination and gene flow.
              Article 0 comments Cited 241 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
                Bookmark
                All references

                Author and article information

                Journal
                Journal ID (nlm-ta): Nat Commun
                Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Nat Commun
                Title: Nature Communications
                Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
                ISSN (Electronic): 2041-1723
                Publication date (Electronic): 04 July 2016
                Publication date Collection: 2016
                Volume: 7
                Electronic Location Identifier: 12087
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment University College London , London WC1E 6BT UK
                Author notes
                Article
                Publisher Item ID: ncomms12087
                DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12087
                PMC ID: 4932193
                PubMed ID: 27373494
                SO-VID: 0de408cf-10cc-43ba-a87c-193ef11ae8c8
                Copyright © Copyright © 2016, Nature Publishing Group, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited. All Rights Reserved.
                License:

                This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

                History
                Date received : 11 January 2016
                Date accepted : 27 May 2016
                Categories
                Subject: Review Article

                ScienceOpen disciplines: Uncategorized
                Data availability:
                ScienceOpen disciplines: Uncategorized

                Comments

                Comment on this article

                scite_

                Similar content244

                See all similar

                Cited by113

                See all cited by

                Most referenced authors1,275

                See all reference authors