Abstract
The populations of several species of Akodon present, besides XX females, a variable proportion of fertile XY females. In Akodon azarae, a correspondence exists between the X-chromosome C-banding pattern and the sexual phenotype of XY individuals: males carry a determinate X-chromosome type, defined by its C-banding pattern, and XY females, any of two others. To confirm the relation between X-chromosome type and the XY female condition and to investigate the hereditary transmission of these different X-chromosomes, we analyzed 50 animals captured in the field and 95 individuals corresponding to the F1 and F2 offspring of 16 crosses.
It was seen that the correlation between X type and the sexual phenotype of XY animals is retained, and that the three X types are transmitted to the progeny. It was also observed that the male offspring of XY females receive the X-chromosome from their male parents and the Y from their mothers. These results strongly support the causal role of an X-borne mutation in A. azarae XY sex reversal, and discard a mutation of the Y-chromosome as the sole basis of this phenomenon.
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Ortiz, M.I., Pinna-Senn, E., Dalmasso, G. et al. Chromosomal aspects and inheritance of the XY female condition in Akodon azarae (Rodentia, Sigmodontinae). Mamm Biol 74, 125–129 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mambio.2008.03.001
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mambio.2008.03.001