Reconstructing the Evolution of Vertebrate Sex Chromosomes
Author(s)
Bellott, Daniel W.; Page, David C
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Sex chromosomes and their evolution have captivated researchers since their discovery. For more than 100 years, the dominant model of sex chromosome evolution has held that differentiated sex chromosomes, such as the X and Y chromosomes of mammals or the Z and W chromosomes of birds, evolved from ordinary autosomes, primarily through the degeneration of the sex-specific Y or W chromosome. At the same time, the sex chromosomes shared between sexes, the X and Z chromosomes, are expected to remain essentially untouched. This model was based on limited cytogenetic and genetic data. Only in the last decade, with the advent of genomics, has the complete sequence of any sex chromosome pair become available. High-quality finished sequences of the human and chimpanzee Y chromosomes, as well as the human X chromosome, have revealed sequence features unanticipated by the traditional model of sex chromosome evolution. Large, highly identical, tandem and inverted arrays of testis-expressed genes are major sources of innovation in gene content on sex-specific chromosomes as well as sex-shared chromosomes. Accounting for the emergence of these ampliconic structures presents a challenge for future studies of sex chromosome evolution.
Description
http://symposium.cshlp.org/content/74/345.full.pdf+html
Date issued
2010-01Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biology; Whitehead Institute for Biomedical ResearchJournal
Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology
Publisher
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Citation
Bellott, D.W. and D.C. Page."Reconstructing the Evolution of Vertebrate Sex Chromosomes." Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology, 2009. 74: 345-353.
Version: Author's final manuscript
ISSN
0091-7451