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Molecular marker suggests rapid changes of sex-determining mechanisms in Australian dragon lizards

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Abstract

Distribution of sex-determining mechanisms across Australian agamids shows no clear phylogenetic segregation, suggesting multiple transitions between temperature-dependent (TSD) and genotypic sex determination (GSD). These taxa thus present an excellent opportunity for studying the evolution of sex chromosomes, and evolutionary transitions between TSD and GSD. Here we report the hybridization of a 3 kb genomic sequence (PvZW3) that marks the Z and W microchromosomes of the Australian central bearded dragon (Pogona vitticeps) to chromosomes of 12 species of Australian agamids from eight genera using fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH). The probe hybridized to a single microchromosome pair in 11 of these species, but to the tip of the long arm of chromosome pair 2 in the twelfth (Physignathus lesueurii), indicating a micro-macro chromosome rearrangement. Three TSD species shared the marked microchromosome, implying that it is a conserved autosome in related species that determine sex by temperature. C-banding identified the marked microchromosome as the heterochromatic W chromosome in two of the three GSD species. However, in Ctenophorus fordi, the probe hybridized to a different microchromosome from that shown by C-banding to be the heterochromatic W, suggesting an independent origin for the ZW chromosome pair in that species. Given the haphazard distribution of GSD and TSD in this group and the existence of at least two sets of sex microchromosomes in GSD species, we conclude that sex-determining mechanisms in this family have evolved independently, multiple times in a short evolutionary period.

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Abbreviations

DAPI:

4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole

dUTP:

2′-deoxyuridine 5′-triphosphate

ESD:

environmental sex determination

FISH:

fluorescence in-situ hybridization

GSD:

genotypic sex determination

PCR:

polymerase chain reaction

SSC:

standard saline citrate

TSD:

temperature sex determination

v/v:

volume/volume

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Acknowledgements

We thank T. Uller for providing specimens of Ctenophorus fordi. Animal collection, handling, and sampling were performed according to the guidelines of the Australian Capital Territory Animal Welfare Act 1992 (Section 40) and licences issued by the Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Australian Capital Territory, and New South Wales state governments. All experiments were performed with the approval of the University of Canberra Animal Experimentation Ethics Committee (Proposal CEAE 04/04) and the Australian National University Animal Experimentation Ethics Committee (Proposals R.CG.02.00 and R.CG.08.03). This work is supported by Australian Research Council Discovery Grants (DP0449935 and DP0881196) awarded to J.A.M.G., S.S. and A.G, and S.S. and A.G respectively.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Comparative Genomics Group, Research School of Biological Sciences, The Australian National University, GPO Box 475, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia

    Tariq Ezaz, Denis O’Meally & Jennifer A. Marshall Graves

  2. Wildlife Genetics Laboratory, Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra, Building 3, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia

    Tariq Ezaz, Alexander E. Quinn, Stephen D. Sarre & Arthur Georges

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  1. Tariq Ezaz
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  2. Alexander E. Quinn
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  3. Stephen D. Sarre
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  4. Denis O’Meally
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  5. Arthur Georges
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  6. Jennifer A. Marshall Graves
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Correspondence to Tariq Ezaz.

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Ezaz, T., Quinn, A.E., Sarre, S.D. et al. Molecular marker suggests rapid changes of sex-determining mechanisms in Australian dragon lizards. Chromosome Res 17, 91–98 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10577-008-9019-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10577-008-9019-5

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