Evolution of dioecy and sex chromosomes via methylation driving Muller's ratchet

Gorelick, Root

doi:10.1046/j.1095-8312.2003.00244.x

Cited by 77 publications

(93 citation statements)

References 123 publications

(164 reference statements)

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“…Indeed, it has been hypothesized that dimorphic methylation of sex-determining loci could be an accelerant to Muller's ratchet and an evolutionary precursor to heterologous sex chromosomes PARROTT ET AL. [46]. According to this hypothesis, small environmental changes would determine sex in those taxa lacking sex chromosomes by altering methylation patterning at discreet, sex-determining loci.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Differential Incubation Temperatures Result in Dimorphic DNA Methylation Patterning of the SOX9 and Aromatase Promoters in Gonads of Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) Embryos1

Parrott

Kohno

Cloy-McCoy

et al. 2014

Biology of Reproduction

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Environmental factors are known to influence sex determination in many nonmammalian vertebrates. In all crocodilians studied thus far, temperature is the only known determinant of sex. However, the molecular mechanisms mediating the effect of temperature on sex determination are not known. Aromatase (CYP19A1) and SOX9 play critical roles in vertebrate sex determination and gonadogenesis. Here, we used a variety of techniques to investigate the potential roles of DNA methylation patterning on CYP19A1 and SOX9 expression in the American alligator, an organism that relies on temperature-dependent sex determination. Our findings reveal that developing gonads derived from embryos incubated at a male-producing temperature (MPT) show elevated CYP19A1 promoter methylation and decreased levels of gene expression relative to incubation at a female-producing temperature (FPT). The converse was observed at the SOX9 locus, with increased promoter methylation and decreased expression occurring in embryonic gonads resulting from incubation at FPT relative to that of MPT. We also examined the gonadal expression of the three primary, catalytically active DNA methyltransferase enzymes and show that they are present during critical stages of gonadal development. Together, these data strongly suggest that DNA methylation patterning is a central component in coordinating the genetic cascade responsible for sexual differentiation. In addition, these data raise the possibility that DNA methylation could act as a key mediator integrating temperature into a molecular trigger that determines sex in the alligator.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Differential Incubation Temperatures Result in Dimorphic DNA Methylation Patterning of the SOX9 and Aromatase Promoters in Gonads of Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) Embryos1

Parrott

Kohno

Cloy-McCoy

et al. 2014

Biology of Reproduction

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“…An alternative is that there is developmental leakiness of male sterility (A allele) in F. chiloensis. Developmental leakiness, or plasticity, in sexual expression could be due to variable methylation of sex-determining genes (Gorelick 2003) or transposons that can accumulate in nonrecombining regions of sex chromososmes (Zhang et al 2008). Finally, it is also possible that the anther phenotypes of females are the result of alleles segregating at loci in other regions of the genome that influence the anther developmental pathway.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative Genetic Mapping Points to Different Sex Chromosomes in Sibling Species of Wild Strawberry (Fragaria)

2010

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Separate sexes have evolved repeatedly from hermaphroditic ancestors in flowering plants, and thus select taxa can provide unparalleled insight into the evolutionary dynamics of sex chromosomes that are thought to be shared by plants and animals alike. Here we ask whether two octoploid sibling species of wild strawberry-one almost exclusively dioecious (males and females), Fragaria chiloensis, and one subdioecious (males, females, and hermaphrodites), F. virginiana-share the same sex-determining chromosome. We created a genetic map of the sex chromosome and its homeologs in F. chiloensis and assessed macrosynteny between it and published maps of the proto-sex chromosome of F. virginiana and the homeologous autosome of hermaphroditic diploid species. Segregation of male and female function in our F. chiloensis mapping population confirmed that linkage and dominance relations are similar to those in F. virginiana. However, identification of the molecular markers most tightly linked to the sexdetermining locus in the two octoploid species shows that, in both, this region maps to homeologues of chromosome 6 in diploid congeners, but is located at opposite ends of their respective chromosomes.

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“…Sexually specific patterns of methylation have frequently been implicated in plant sex determination891011. In the genus Populus (poplars and aspens) methylation has also been implicated in work using the Chinese white poplar (an aspen relative), Populus tomentosa Carrière12.…”

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confidence: 99%

Sexual epigenetics: gender-specific methylation of a gene in the sex determining region of Populus balsamifera

Bräutigam

Soolanayakanahally

Champigny

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

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Methylation has frequently been implicated in gender determination in plants. The recent discovery of the sex determining region (SDR) of balsam poplar, Populus balsamifera, pinpointed 13 genes with differentiated X and Y copies. We tested these genes for differential methylation using whole methylome sequencing of xylem tissue of multiple individuals grown under field conditions in two common gardens. The only SDR gene to show a marked pattern of gender-specific methylation is PbRR9, a member of the two component response regulator (type-A) gene family, involved in cytokinin signalling. It is an ortholog of Arabidopsis genes ARR16 and ARR17. The strongest patterns of differential methylation (mostly male-biased) are found in the putative promoter and the first intron. The 4th intron is strongly methylated in both sexes and the 5th intron is unmethylated in both sexes. Using a statistical learning algorithm we find that it is possible accurately to assign trees to gender using genome-wide methylation patterns alone. The strongest predictor is the region coincident with PbRR9, showing that this gene stands out against all genes in the genome in having the strongest sex-specific methylation pattern. We propose the hypothesis that PbRR9 has a direct, epigenetically mediated, role in poplar sex determination.

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Evolution of dioecy and sex chromosomes via methylation driving Muller's ratchet

Cited by 77 publications

References 123 publications

Differential Incubation Temperatures Result in Dimorphic DNA Methylation Patterning of the SOX9 and Aromatase Promoters in Gonads of Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) Embryos1

Differential Incubation Temperatures Result in Dimorphic DNA Methylation Patterning of the SOX9 and Aromatase Promoters in Gonads of Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) Embryos1

Comparative Genetic Mapping Points to Different Sex Chromosomes in Sibling Species of Wild Strawberry (Fragaria)

Sexual epigenetics: gender-specific methylation of a gene in the sex determining region of Populus balsamifera

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