Ancestral male recombination in Drosophila albomicans produced geographically restricted neo-Y chromosome haplotypes varying in age and onset of decay.

Male Drosophila typically have achiasmatic meiosis, and fusions between autosomes and the Y chromosome have repeatedly created non-recombining neo-Y chromosomes that degenerate. Intriguingly, Drosophila nasuta males recombine, but their close relative D. albomicans reverted back to achiasmy after ev...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Kevin H-C Wei, Doris Bachtrog
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2019-11-01
Series:PLoS Genetics
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1008502
_version_ 1818716666338476032
author Kevin H-C Wei
Doris Bachtrog
author_facet Kevin H-C Wei
Doris Bachtrog
author_sort Kevin H-C Wei
collection DOAJ
description Male Drosophila typically have achiasmatic meiosis, and fusions between autosomes and the Y chromosome have repeatedly created non-recombining neo-Y chromosomes that degenerate. Intriguingly, Drosophila nasuta males recombine, but their close relative D. albomicans reverted back to achiasmy after evolving neo-sex chromosomes. Here we use genome-wide polymorphism data to reconstruct the complex evolutionary history of neo-sex chromosomes in D. albomicans and examine the effect of recombination and its cessation on the initiation of neo-Y decay. Population and phylogenomic analyses reveal three distinct neo-Y types that are geographically restricted. Due to ancestral recombination with the neo-X, overall nucleotide diversity on the neo-Y is similar to the neo-X but severely reduced within neo-Y types. Consistently, the neo-Y chromosomes fail to form a monophyletic clade in sliding window trees outside of the region proximal to the fusion. Based on tree topology changes, we inferred the recombination breakpoints that produced haplotypes specific to each neo-Y type. We show that recombination became suppressed at different time points for the different neo-Y haplotypes. Haplotype age correlates with onset of neo-Y decay, and older neo-Y haplotypes show more fixed gene disruption via frameshift indels and down-regulation of neo-Y alleles. Genes are downregulated independently on the different neo-Ys, but are depleted of testes-expressed genes across all haplotypes. This indicates that genes important for male function are initially shielded from degeneration. Our results offer a time course of the early progression of Y chromosome evolution, showing how the suppression of recombination, through the reversal to achiasmy in D. albomicans males, initiates the process of degeneration.
first_indexed 2024-12-17T19:22:53Z
format Article
id doaj.art-fb2f95056eb54601bfadb2c3503350c5
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1553-7390
1553-7404
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-17T19:22:53Z
publishDate 2019-11-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS Genetics
spelling doaj.art-fb2f95056eb54601bfadb2c3503350c52022-12-21T21:35:27ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS Genetics1553-73901553-74042019-11-011511e100850210.1371/journal.pgen.1008502Ancestral male recombination in Drosophila albomicans produced geographically restricted neo-Y chromosome haplotypes varying in age and onset of decay.Kevin H-C WeiDoris BachtrogMale Drosophila typically have achiasmatic meiosis, and fusions between autosomes and the Y chromosome have repeatedly created non-recombining neo-Y chromosomes that degenerate. Intriguingly, Drosophila nasuta males recombine, but their close relative D. albomicans reverted back to achiasmy after evolving neo-sex chromosomes. Here we use genome-wide polymorphism data to reconstruct the complex evolutionary history of neo-sex chromosomes in D. albomicans and examine the effect of recombination and its cessation on the initiation of neo-Y decay. Population and phylogenomic analyses reveal three distinct neo-Y types that are geographically restricted. Due to ancestral recombination with the neo-X, overall nucleotide diversity on the neo-Y is similar to the neo-X but severely reduced within neo-Y types. Consistently, the neo-Y chromosomes fail to form a monophyletic clade in sliding window trees outside of the region proximal to the fusion. Based on tree topology changes, we inferred the recombination breakpoints that produced haplotypes specific to each neo-Y type. We show that recombination became suppressed at different time points for the different neo-Y haplotypes. Haplotype age correlates with onset of neo-Y decay, and older neo-Y haplotypes show more fixed gene disruption via frameshift indels and down-regulation of neo-Y alleles. Genes are downregulated independently on the different neo-Ys, but are depleted of testes-expressed genes across all haplotypes. This indicates that genes important for male function are initially shielded from degeneration. Our results offer a time course of the early progression of Y chromosome evolution, showing how the suppression of recombination, through the reversal to achiasmy in D. albomicans males, initiates the process of degeneration.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1008502
spellingShingle Kevin H-C Wei
Doris Bachtrog
Ancestral male recombination in Drosophila albomicans produced geographically restricted neo-Y chromosome haplotypes varying in age and onset of decay.
PLoS Genetics
title Ancestral male recombination in Drosophila albomicans produced geographically restricted neo-Y chromosome haplotypes varying in age and onset of decay.
title_full Ancestral male recombination in Drosophila albomicans produced geographically restricted neo-Y chromosome haplotypes varying in age and onset of decay.
title_fullStr Ancestral male recombination in Drosophila albomicans produced geographically restricted neo-Y chromosome haplotypes varying in age and onset of decay.
title_full_unstemmed Ancestral male recombination in Drosophila albomicans produced geographically restricted neo-Y chromosome haplotypes varying in age and onset of decay.
title_short Ancestral male recombination in Drosophila albomicans produced geographically restricted neo-Y chromosome haplotypes varying in age and onset of decay.
title_sort ancestral male recombination in drosophila albomicans produced geographically restricted neo y chromosome haplotypes varying in age and onset of decay
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1008502
work_keys_str_mv AT kevinhcwei ancestralmalerecombinationindrosophilaalbomicansproducedgeographicallyrestrictedneoychromosomehaplotypesvaryinginageandonsetofdecay
AT dorisbachtrog ancestralmalerecombinationindrosophilaalbomicansproducedgeographicallyrestrictedneoychromosomehaplotypesvaryinginageandonsetofdecay