No evidence for a second evolutionary stratum during the early evolution of mammalian sex chromosomes.

Mammalian sex chromosomes originated from a pair of autosomes, and homologous genes on the sex chromosomes (gametologs) differentiated through recombination arrest between the chromosomes. It was hypothesized that this differentiation in eutherians took place in a stepwise fashion and left a footpri...

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Main Authors: Yukako Katsura, Yoko Satta
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2012-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3477149?pdf=render
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author Yukako Katsura
Yoko Satta
author_facet Yukako Katsura
Yoko Satta
author_sort Yukako Katsura
collection DOAJ
description Mammalian sex chromosomes originated from a pair of autosomes, and homologous genes on the sex chromosomes (gametologs) differentiated through recombination arrest between the chromosomes. It was hypothesized that this differentiation in eutherians took place in a stepwise fashion and left a footprint on the X chromosome termed "evolutionary strata." The evolutionary stratum hypothesis claims that strata 1 and 2 (which correspond to the first two steps of chromosomal differentiation) were generated in the stem lineage of Theria or before the divergence between eutherians and marsupials. However, this prediction relied solely on the molecular clock hypothesis between pairs of human gametologs, and molecular evolution of marsupial sex chromosomal genes has not yet been investigated. In this study, we analyzed the following 7 pairs of marsupial gametologs, together with their eutherian orthologs that reside in stratum 1 or 2: SOX3/SRY, RBMX/Y, RPS4X/Y, HSFX/Y, XKRX/Y, SMCX/Y (KDM5C/D, JARID1C/D), and UBE1X/Y (UBA1/UBA1Y). Phylogenetic analyses and estimated divergence time of these gametologs reveal that they all differentiated at the same time in the therian ancestor. We have also provided strong evidence for gene conversion that occurred in the 3' region of the eutherian stratum 2 genes (SMCX/Y and UBE1X/Y). The results of the present study show that (1) there is no compelling evidence for the second stratum in the stem lineage of Theria; (2) gene conversion, which may have occurred between SMCX/Y and UBE1X/Y in the eutherian lineage, potentially accounts for their apparently lower degree of overall divergence.
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spelling doaj.art-8713c2f551f54abbbb1be7095a1c88832022-12-22T01:13:17ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032012-01-01710e4548810.1371/journal.pone.0045488No evidence for a second evolutionary stratum during the early evolution of mammalian sex chromosomes.Yukako KatsuraYoko SattaMammalian sex chromosomes originated from a pair of autosomes, and homologous genes on the sex chromosomes (gametologs) differentiated through recombination arrest between the chromosomes. It was hypothesized that this differentiation in eutherians took place in a stepwise fashion and left a footprint on the X chromosome termed "evolutionary strata." The evolutionary stratum hypothesis claims that strata 1 and 2 (which correspond to the first two steps of chromosomal differentiation) were generated in the stem lineage of Theria or before the divergence between eutherians and marsupials. However, this prediction relied solely on the molecular clock hypothesis between pairs of human gametologs, and molecular evolution of marsupial sex chromosomal genes has not yet been investigated. In this study, we analyzed the following 7 pairs of marsupial gametologs, together with their eutherian orthologs that reside in stratum 1 or 2: SOX3/SRY, RBMX/Y, RPS4X/Y, HSFX/Y, XKRX/Y, SMCX/Y (KDM5C/D, JARID1C/D), and UBE1X/Y (UBA1/UBA1Y). Phylogenetic analyses and estimated divergence time of these gametologs reveal that they all differentiated at the same time in the therian ancestor. We have also provided strong evidence for gene conversion that occurred in the 3' region of the eutherian stratum 2 genes (SMCX/Y and UBE1X/Y). The results of the present study show that (1) there is no compelling evidence for the second stratum in the stem lineage of Theria; (2) gene conversion, which may have occurred between SMCX/Y and UBE1X/Y in the eutherian lineage, potentially accounts for their apparently lower degree of overall divergence.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3477149?pdf=render
spellingShingle Yukako Katsura
Yoko Satta
No evidence for a second evolutionary stratum during the early evolution of mammalian sex chromosomes.
PLoS ONE
title No evidence for a second evolutionary stratum during the early evolution of mammalian sex chromosomes.
title_full No evidence for a second evolutionary stratum during the early evolution of mammalian sex chromosomes.
title_fullStr No evidence for a second evolutionary stratum during the early evolution of mammalian sex chromosomes.
title_full_unstemmed No evidence for a second evolutionary stratum during the early evolution of mammalian sex chromosomes.
title_short No evidence for a second evolutionary stratum during the early evolution of mammalian sex chromosomes.
title_sort no evidence for a second evolutionary stratum during the early evolution of mammalian sex chromosomes
url http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3477149?pdf=render
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