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A polymorphic pseudoautosomal boundary in the Carica papaya sex chromosomes

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Abstract

Sex chromosomes are defined by a non-recombining sex-determining region (SDR) flanked by one or two pseudoautosomal regions (PARs). The genetic composition and evolutionary dynamics of the PAR is also influenced by its linkage to the differentiated non-recombining SDR; however, understanding the effects of this linkage requires a precise definition of the PAR boundary. Here, we took a molecular population genetic approach to further refine the location of the PAR boundary of the evolutionary young sex chromosomes of the tropical plant, Carica papaya. We were able to map the position of the papaya PAR boundary A to a 100-kb region between two genetic loci approximately 2 Mb upstream of the previously genetically identified PAR boundary. Furthermore, this boundary is polymorphic within natural populations of papaya, with an approximately 100–130 kb expansion of the non-recombining SDR found in 16 % of individuals surveyed. The expansion of the PAR boundary in one Y haplotype includes at least one additional gene. Homologs of this gene are involved in male gametophyte and pollen development in other plant species.

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Abbreviations

SDR:

Sex-determining region

PAR:

Pseudoautosomal region

QTL:

Quantitative trait loci

LD:

Linkage disequilibrium

MP:

Maximum parsimony

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (DBI-0922545 to RCM) and by the Department of Botany at Miami University through Academic Challenge grants to FML. We are extremely grateful to Deborah Charlesworth and one anonymous reviewer for their critical examination of the manuscript and helpful advice. We are greatly indebted to Oscar Rocha at Kent State University for his help during the specimen collecting process in Costa Rica. We would also like to thank our collaborators Ray Ming (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) and Qingyi Yu (Texas A&M University) for providing papaya sequence information and cultivar tissues.

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  1. Fiona M. Lappin

    Present address: School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biology Department, Miami University, Oxford, OH, 45056, USA

    Fiona M. Lappin, Charles M. Medert, Kevin K. Hawkins, Sandra Mardonovich, Meng Wu & Richard C. Moore

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  1. Fiona M. Lappin
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  2. Charles M. Medert
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Correspondence to Richard C. Moore.

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Communicated by C. Gebhardt.

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Lappin, F.M., Medert, C.M., Hawkins, K.K. et al. A polymorphic pseudoautosomal boundary in the Carica papaya sex chromosomes. Mol Genet Genomics 290, 1511–1522 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00438-015-1000-3

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