A male-essential miRNA is key for avian sex chromosome dosage compensation.

ABSTRACT: Birds have a sex chromosome system in which females are heterogametic (ZW) and males are homogametic (ZZ)¹. The differentiation of avian sex chromosomes from ancestral autosomes entails the loss of most genes from the W chromosome during evolution^1,2. However, the extent to which mechanisms evolved that counterbalance this substantial reduction in female gene dosage remains unclear. Here we report functional in vivo and evolutionary analyses of a Z-linked microRNA (miR-2954) with strong male-biased expression, previously proposed to mediate avian sex chromosome dosage compensation³. We knocked out miR-2954 in chicken, which resulted in early embryonic lethality in homozygous knockout males, probably driven by specific upregulation of dosage-sensitive Z-link

SUBMITTER: Fallahshahroudi A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12408383 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature