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Multiple sex chromosomes in the light of female meiotic drive in amniote vertebrates

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Abstract

It is notable that the occurrence of multiple sex chromosomes differs significantly between major lineages of amniote vertebrates. In this respect, birds are especially conspicuous, as multiple sex chromosomes have not been observed in this lineage so far. On the other hand, in mammals, multiple sex chromosomes have evolved many times independently. We hypothesize that this contrast can be related to the different involvement of sex-specific sex chromosomes in female meiosis subjected to the female meiotic drive under male versus female heterogamety. Essentially, the male-specific Y chromosome is not involved in female meiosis and is therefore sheltered against the effects of the female meiotic drive affecting the X chromosome and autosomes. Conversely, the Z and W sex chromosomes are both present in female meiosis. Nonrandom segregation of these sex chromosomes as a consequence of their rearrangements connected with the emergence of multiple sex chromosomes would result in a biased sex ratio, which should be penalized by selection. Therefore, the emergence of multiple sex chromosomes should be less constrained in the lineages with male rather than female heterogamety. Our broader phylogenetic comparison across amniotes supports this prediction. We suggest that our results are consistent with the widespread occurrence of female meiotic drive in amniotes.

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Acknowledgement

We are grateful to the editor, Darren K. Griffin, for the kind invitation to include our work in this special issue. This study was supported by grants GAČR 506/10/0718 and GA UK 591712. This article represents part seven of the series “Evolution of sex determining systems in lizards” by Martina Pokorná and Lukáš Kratochvíl.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Science, Department of Ecology, Charles University in Prague, Viničná 7, 128 44, Praha 2, Czech Republic

    Martina Pokorná, Marie Altmanová & Lukáš Kratochvíl

  2. Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics, Academy of the Sciences of the Czech Republic, Rumburská 89, 277 21, Liběchov, Czech Republic

    Martina Pokorná

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  1. Martina Pokorná
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  2. Marie Altmanová
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Correspondence to Martina Pokorná or Lukáš Kratochvíl.

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Responsible Editor: Darren K. Griffin and Beth A. Sullivan.

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Table S1

List of species with multiple sex chromosomes (XLSX 27 kb)

Table S2

Numbers of identified independent origins of multiple sex chromosomes, numbers of species with known multiple neo-sex chromosomes, numbers of karyotyped species and numbers of species with known sex chromosomes across amniote lineages (XLSX 15 kb)

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Pokorná, M., Altmanová, M. & Kratochvíl, L. Multiple sex chromosomes in the light of female meiotic drive in amniote vertebrates. Chromosome Res 22, 35–44 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10577-014-9403-2

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