Sex is determined by XY chromosomes across the radiation of dioecious Nepenthes pitcher plants
Abstract Species with separate sexes (dioecy) are a minority among flowering plants, but dioecy has evolved multiple times independently in their history. The sex‐determination system and sex‐linked genomic regions are currently identified in a limited number of dioecious plants only. Here, we study...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Oxford University Press
2019-12-01
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| Series: | Evolution Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/evl3.142 |
| _version_ | 1827835245858127872 |
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| author | Mathias Scharmann T. Ulmar Grafe Faizah Metali Alex Widmer |
| author_facet | Mathias Scharmann T. Ulmar Grafe Faizah Metali Alex Widmer |
| author_sort | Mathias Scharmann |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Species with separate sexes (dioecy) are a minority among flowering plants, but dioecy has evolved multiple times independently in their history. The sex‐determination system and sex‐linked genomic regions are currently identified in a limited number of dioecious plants only. Here, we study the sex‐determination system in a genus of dioecious plants that lack heteromorphic sex chromosomes and are not amenable to controlled breeding: Nepenthes pitcher plants. We genotyped wild populations of flowering males and females of three Nepenthes taxa using ddRAD‐seq and sequenced a male inflorescence transcriptome. We developed a statistical tool (privacy rarefaction) to distinguish true sex specificity from stochastic noise in read coverage of sequencing data from wild populations and identified male‐specific loci and XY‐patterned single nucleotide polymorphsims (SNPs) in all three Nepenthes taxa, suggesting the presence of homomorphic XY sex chromosomes. The male‐specific region of the Y chromosome showed little conservation among the three taxa, except for the essential pollen development gene DYT1 that was confirmed as male specific by PCR in additional Nepenthes taxa. Hence, dioecy and part of the male‐specific region of the Nepenthes Y‐chromosomes likely have a single evolutionary origin. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T06:05:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8665e61e6ffa4496aa4c2008c6930e75 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2056-3744 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T06:05:52Z |
| publishDate | 2019-12-01 |
| publisher | Oxford University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Evolution Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-8665e61e6ffa4496aa4c2008c6930e752023-09-03T03:40:43ZengOxford University PressEvolution Letters2056-37442019-12-013658659710.1002/evl3.142Sex is determined by XY chromosomes across the radiation of dioecious Nepenthes pitcher plantsMathias Scharmann0T. Ulmar Grafe1Faizah Metali2Alex Widmer3Institute of Integrative Biology ETH Zurich Zürich 8092 SwitzerlandFaculty of Science Universiti Brunei Darussalam Gadong BE 1410 Brunei DarussalamFaculty of Science Universiti Brunei Darussalam Gadong BE 1410 Brunei DarussalamInstitute of Integrative Biology ETH Zurich Zürich 8092 SwitzerlandAbstract Species with separate sexes (dioecy) are a minority among flowering plants, but dioecy has evolved multiple times independently in their history. The sex‐determination system and sex‐linked genomic regions are currently identified in a limited number of dioecious plants only. Here, we study the sex‐determination system in a genus of dioecious plants that lack heteromorphic sex chromosomes and are not amenable to controlled breeding: Nepenthes pitcher plants. We genotyped wild populations of flowering males and females of three Nepenthes taxa using ddRAD‐seq and sequenced a male inflorescence transcriptome. We developed a statistical tool (privacy rarefaction) to distinguish true sex specificity from stochastic noise in read coverage of sequencing data from wild populations and identified male‐specific loci and XY‐patterned single nucleotide polymorphsims (SNPs) in all three Nepenthes taxa, suggesting the presence of homomorphic XY sex chromosomes. The male‐specific region of the Y chromosome showed little conservation among the three taxa, except for the essential pollen development gene DYT1 that was confirmed as male specific by PCR in additional Nepenthes taxa. Hence, dioecy and part of the male‐specific region of the Nepenthes Y‐chromosomes likely have a single evolutionary origin.https://doi.org/10.1002/evl3.142Carnivorous plantdioecymolecular sexingplant sex chromosomeprivacy rarefactionsex‐determination |
| spellingShingle | Mathias Scharmann T. Ulmar Grafe Faizah Metali Alex Widmer Sex is determined by XY chromosomes across the radiation of dioecious Nepenthes pitcher plants Evolution Letters Carnivorous plant dioecy molecular sexing plant sex chromosome privacy rarefaction sex‐determination |
| title | Sex is determined by XY chromosomes across the radiation of dioecious Nepenthes pitcher plants |
| title_full | Sex is determined by XY chromosomes across the radiation of dioecious Nepenthes pitcher plants |
| title_fullStr | Sex is determined by XY chromosomes across the radiation of dioecious Nepenthes pitcher plants |
| title_full_unstemmed | Sex is determined by XY chromosomes across the radiation of dioecious Nepenthes pitcher plants |
| title_short | Sex is determined by XY chromosomes across the radiation of dioecious Nepenthes pitcher plants |
| title_sort | sex is determined by xy chromosomes across the radiation of dioecious nepenthes pitcher plants |
| topic | Carnivorous plant dioecy molecular sexing plant sex chromosome privacy rarefaction sex‐determination |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/evl3.142 |
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