The rise and fall of the ancient northern pike master sex-determining gene.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 33506762.
- Also identified by DOI 10.7554/eLife.62858 and PMC identifier 7870143.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
The understanding of the evolution of variable sex determination mechanisms across taxa requires comparative studies among closely related species. Following the fate of a known master sex-determining gene, we traced the evolution of sex determination in an entire teleost order (Esociformes). We discovered that the northern pike (<i>Esox lucius</i>) master sex-determining gene originated from a 65 to 90 million-year-old gene duplication event and that it remained sex linked on undifferentiated sex chromosomes for at least 56 million years in multiple species. We identified several independent species- or population-specific sex determination transitions, including a recent loss of a Y chromosome. These findings highlight the diversity of evolutionary fates of master sex-determining genes and the importance of population demographic history in sex determination studies. We hypothesize that occasional sex reversals and genetic bottlenecks provide a non-adaptive explanation for sex determination transitions.
Medical subject headings
- Esocidae
- Gene Duplication
- Sex Chromosomes
- Sex Determination Processes