Dioecy and chromosomal sex determination are maintained through allopolyploid speciation in the plant genus Mercurialis.

ABSTRACT: Polyploidization may precipitate dramatic changes to the genome, including chromosome rearrangements, gene loss, and changes in gene expression. In dioecious plants, the sex-determining mechanism may also be disrupted by polyploidization, with the potential evolution of hermaphroditism. However, while dioecy appears to have persisted through a ploidy transition in some species, it is unknown whether the newly formed polyploid maintained its sex-determining system uninterrupted, or whether dioecy re-evolved after a period of hermaphroditism. Here, we develop a bioinformatic pipeline using RNA-sequencing data from natural populations to demonstrate that the allopolyploid plant Mercurialis canariensis directly inherited its sex-determining region from one of its diploid progenitor species, M.

SUBMITTER: Toups MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9292114 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature