The genome of Litomosoides sigmodontis illuminates the origins of Y chromosomes in filarial nematodes.

ABSTRACT: Heteromorphic sex chromosomes are usually thought to have originated from a pair of autosomes that acquired a sex-determining locus and subsequently stopped recombining, leading to degeneration of the sex-limited chromosome. The majority of nematode species lack heteromorphic sex chromosomes and determine sex using an X-chromosome counting mechanism, with males being hemizygous for one or more X chromosomes (XX/X0). Some filarial nematode species, including important parasites of humans, have heteromorphic XX/XY karyotypes. It has been assumed that sex is determined by a Y-linked locus in these species. However, karyotypic analyses suggested that filarial Y chromosomes are derived from the unfused homologue of an autosome involved in an X-autosome fusion event. Here, we generated a chromos

SUBMITTER: Stevens L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10817185 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature