Male sex in houseflies is determined by
            <i>Mdmd</i>
            , a paralog of the generic splice factor gene
            <i>CWC22</i>

Sharma, Akash; Heinze, Svenia D.; Wu, Yanli; Kohlbrenner, Tea; Morilla, Ian; Brunner, Claudia; Wimmer, Ernst A.; Zande, Louis van de; Robinson, Mark D.; Beukeboom, Leo W.; Bopp, Daniel

doi:10.1126/science.aam5498

Cited by 132 publications

(180 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Two of the genes are members of large gene families, suggesting possible Y-specific expansions. One of the other three genes is Md-ncm (LOC101896466), which is the ancestral autosomal paralog of the male-determining gene Mdmd (Sharma et al 2017). Our results therefore demonstrate that screening for genes with 1.5 × M F coverage can identify recent autosome-to-Y duplications.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 76%

“…Additionally, XY males have equal or greater expression of X Chromosome genes when compared to XX (III M ) males , providing further evidence that XY males do not have a haploid X Chromosome dose. Our results suggest that the house fly Y Chromosome is an ancestral brachyceran X Chromosome that very recently acquired Mdmd via the duplication of Md-ncm (Sharma et al 2017). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…We therefore hypothesize that the house fly Y Chromosome is actually an ancestral brachyceran X Chromosome that recently acquired the male-determining Mdmd gene (Sharma et al 2017 (Vicoso and Bachtrog 2015). We tested for elevated heterozygosity by first identifying polymorphic sites (SNPs) within genes in aabys males and females.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…First, the house fly M factor (Mdmd) is a recently arisen duplication of the gene encoding the spliceosome-associated protein CWC22 (Sharma et al 2017), not an ancient gene as would be expected if it were the ancestral male-determining locus of brachycerans. Mdmd has been mapped to the autosomes as well as the Y Chromosome (Sharma et al 2017), suggesting that the house fly Y and the autosomes harboring Mdmd are all recently derived neo-Y Chromosomes. Second, no sex-linked genetic markers have been identified on the house fly X or Y Chromosomes other than Mdmd (Hamm et al 2015), suggesting that there are no X-specific genes or genetic variants that are not found on the Y Chromosome.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The house fly Y Chromosome is young and minimally differentiated from its ancient X Chromosome partner

2017

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Canonical ancient sex chromosome pairs consist of a gene rich X (or Z) Chromosome and a male-limited (or female-limited) Y (or W) Chromosome that is gene poor. In contrast to highly differentiated sex chromosomes, nascent sex chromosome pairs are homomorphic or very similar in sequence content. Nascent sex chromosomes can arise if an existing sex chromosome fuses to an autosome or an autosome acquires a new sex-determining locus/allele. Sex chromosomes often differ between closely related species and can even be polymorphic within species, suggesting that nascent sex chromosomes arise frequently over the course of evolution. Previously documented sex chromosome transitions involve changes to both members of the sex chromosome pair (X and Y, or Z and W). The house fly has sex chromosomes that resemble the ancestral fly karyotype that originated ∼100 million yr ago; therefore, the house fly is expected to have X and Y Chromosomes with different gene content. We tested this hypothesis using whole-genome sequencing and transcriptomic data, and we discovered little evidence for genetic differentiation between the X and Y in house fly. We propose that the house fly has retained the ancient X Chromosome, but the ancestral Y was replaced by an X Chromosome carrying a new male determining gene. Our proposed hypothesis provides a mechanism for how one member of a sex chromosome pair can experience evolutionary turnover while the other member remains unaffected.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 76%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The house fly Y Chromosome is young and minimally differentiated from its ancient X Chromosome partner

2017

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Sex Chromosome Turnovers in Evolution

Saunders

2019

Encyclopedia of Life Sciences

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Animals and plants display a remarkable diversity in the way they determine sex. This implies that changes in the mode of sex determination occur over evolutionary time. Changes that involve a modification of the identity of sex chromosomes are called sex chromosome turnovers, and are caused by the spread of a mutant gene with sex‐determining properties or the translocation of the ancestral sex determiner to a new genomic location. Through both empirical and theoretical studies, the mysteries surrounding the proximate and ultimate mechanisms responsible for turnovers, and their consequences on sex chromosome evolution, are gradually being unravelled. Nevertheless, many questions surrounding these evolutionary transitions remain unanswered: Why do turnover rates vary across taxa? What are the driving evolutionary forces? Why do certain types of transitions seem more common than others? Key Concepts In many species with separate sexes, sex is determined genetically by a single gene, located on the sex chromosomes. A sex chromosome turnover is a change in the identity of the sex chromosomes, resulting from a change in identity and/or location of the sex‐determining gene. The study of sex chromosome turnovers in evolution has been driven mainly by theoretical work, but empirical studies are gradually catching up. Different types of turnovers have been described, which have contrasting consequences for sex determination. Rates of transitions vary dramatically across taxa: they are rare in some taxa and very frequent in others. Many evolutionary mechanisms have been proposed as potential drivers of turnovers, but their relative implication and importance is still poorly understood. Certain types of transitions seem more frequent than others, and some lineages experiencing frequent turnovers show nonrandom transitions.

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New insights into immune genes and other expanded gene families of the house fly, Musca domestica, from an improved whole genome sequence

Meisel,

Freeman,

Asgari

et al. 2023

Arch Insect Biochem Physiol

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The house fly, Musca domestica, is a pest of livestock, transmits pathogens of human diseases, and is a model organism in multiple biological research areas. The first house fly genome assembly was published in 2014 and has been of tremendous use to the community of house fly biologists, but that genome is discontiguous and incomplete by contemporary standards. To improve the house fly reference genome, we sequenced, assembled, and annotated the house fly genome using improved techniques and technologies that were not available at the time of the original genome sequencing project. The new genome assembly is substantially more contiguous and complete than the previous genome. The new genome assembly has a scaffold N50 of 12.46 Mb, which is a 50‐fold improvement over the previous assembly. In addition, the new genome assembly is within 1% of the estimated genome size based on flow cytometry, whereas the previous assembly was missing nearly one‐third of the predicted genome sequence. The improved genome assembly has much more contiguous scaffolds containing large gene families. To provide an example of the benefit of the new genome, we used it to investigate tandemly arrayed immune gene families. The new contiguous assembly of these loci provides a clearer picture of the regulation of the expression of immune genes, and it leads to new insights into the selection pressures that shape their evolution.

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Male sex in houseflies is determined by Mdmd , a paralog of the generic splice factor gene CWC22

Cited by 132 publications

References 41 publications

The house fly Y Chromosome is young and minimally differentiated from its ancient X Chromosome partner

The house fly Y Chromosome is young and minimally differentiated from its ancient X Chromosome partner

Sex Chromosome Turnovers in Evolution

New insights into immune genes and other expanded gene families of the house fly, Musca domestica, from an improved whole genome sequence

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