Rapid Y degeneration and dosage compensation in plant sex chromosomes
Abstract
Sex chromosomes have repeatedly evolved in animals and plants, but the evolutionary forces driving this process are not entirely understood. Nonrecombining Y chromosomes undergo rapid loss of functional genes in animals; however, it remains unclear whether this holds true in plants. We report the first genome sequence-based analysis of sex chromosomes in white campion, to our knowledge, which evolved large sex chromosomes only 10 million years ago. We demonstrate that the Y chromosome has lost nearly half its functional genes, at a rate of Y degeneration comparable to that of animal Y chromosomes. This degeneration is accommodated for by highly variable dosage compensation. Our results resolve the puzzling discrepancy in evolutionary trajectories of sex chromosomes between the plant and animal kingdoms.
- Publication:
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
- Pub Date:
- October 2015
- DOI:
- 10.1073/pnas.1508454112
- Bibcode:
- 2015PNAS..11213021P