Divergent Evolutionary Trajectories of Two Young, Homomorphic, and Closely Related Sex Chromosome Systems.

ABSTRACT: There exists extraordinary variation among species in the degree and nature of sex chromosome divergence. However, much of our knowledge about sex chromosomes is based on comparisons between deeply diverged species with different ancestral sex chromosomes, making it difficult to establish how fast and why sex chromosomes acquire variable levels of divergence. To address this problem, we studied sex chromosome evolution in two species of African clawed frog (Xenopus), both of whom acquired novel systems for sex determination from a recent common ancestor, and both of whom have female (ZW/ZZ) heterogamy. Derived sex chromosomes of one species, X. laevis, have a small region of suppressed recombination that surrounds the sex determining locus, and have remained this way for millions of years.

SUBMITTER: Furman BLS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5841384 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature