Affiliations 

  • 1 State Key Laboratory of Developmental Biology of Freshwater Fish, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan Province 410081, China
  • 2 Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Integrated Marine Ecology Department, CRIMAC, Calabria Marine Centre, Amendolara 87071, Italy
  • 3 Integrated Marine Ecology Department, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Sicily Marine Centre, Messina 98168, Italy
  • 4 Higher Institution Centre of Excellence (HICoE), Institute of Tropical Aquaculture and Fisheries, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Nerus, Terengganu 21300, Malaysia
  • 5 School of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Aquatic Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, 36830, USA
Genome Biol Evol, 2024 Mar 02;16(3).
PMID: 38408866 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evae037

Abstract

The suppression of recombination is considered a hallmark of sex chromosome evolution. However, previous research has identified undifferentiated sex chromosomes and sex determination by single SNP in the greater amberjack (Seriola dumerili). We observed the same phenomena in the golden pompano (Trachinotus ovatus) of the same family Carangidae and discovered a different sex-determining SNP within the same gene Hsd17b1. We propose an evolutionary model elucidating the turnover of sex-determining mutations by highlighting the contrasting dynamics between purifying selection, responsible for maintaining W-linked Hsd17b1, and neutral evolution, which drives Z-linked Hsd17b1. Additionally, sporadic loss-of-function mutations in W-linked Hsd17b1 contribute to the conversion of W chromosomes into Z chromosomes. This model was directly supported by simulations, closely related species, and indirectly by zebrafish mutants. These findings shed new light on the early stages of sex chromosome evolution.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.