IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v15y2024i1d10.1038_s41467-024-49025-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A candidate sex determination locus in amphibians which evolved by structural variation between X- and Y-chromosomes

Author

Listed:
  • Heiner Kuhl

    (Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries)

  • Wen Hui Tan

    (National University of Singapore)

  • Christophe Klopp

    (INRAe)

  • Wibke Kleiner

    (Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries)

  • Baturalp Koyun

    (Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries
    Bilkent University, SB Building)

  • Mitica Ciorpac

    (Danube Delta National Institute for Research and Development
    University of Medicine and Pharmacy)

  • Romain Feron

    (University of Lausanne
    Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics)

  • Martin Knytl

    (Charles University
    McMaster University)

  • Werner Kloas

    (Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries)

  • Manfred Schartl

    (University of Wuerzburg, Am Hubland
    Texas State University)

  • Christoph Winkler

    (National University of Singapore)

  • Matthias Stöck

    (Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries)

Abstract

Most vertebrates develop distinct females and males, where sex is determined by repeatedly evolved environmental or genetic triggers. Undifferentiated sex chromosomes and large genomes have caused major knowledge gaps in amphibians. Only a single master sex-determining gene, the dmrt1-paralogue (dm-w) of female-heterogametic clawed frogs (Xenopus; ZW♀/ZZ♂), is known across >8740 species of amphibians. In this study, by combining chromosome-scale female and male genomes of a non-model amphibian, the European green toad, Bufo(tes) viridis, with ddRAD- and whole genome pool-sequencing, we reveal a candidate master locus, governing a male-heterogametic system (XX♀/XY♂). Targeted sequencing across multiple taxa uncovered structural X/Y-variation in the 5′-regulatory region of the gene bod1l, where a Y-specific non-coding RNA (ncRNA-Y), only expressed in males, suggests that this locus initiates sex-specific differentiation. Developmental transcriptomes and RNA in-situ hybridization show timely and spatially relevant sex-specific ncRNA-Y and bod1l-gene expression in primordial gonads. This coincided with differential H3K4me-methylation in pre-granulosa/pre-Sertoli cells, pointing to a specific mechanism of amphibian sex determination.

Suggested Citation

  • Heiner Kuhl & Wen Hui Tan & Christophe Klopp & Wibke Kleiner & Baturalp Koyun & Mitica Ciorpac & Romain Feron & Martin Knytl & Werner Kloas & Manfred Schartl & Christoph Winkler & Matthias Stöck, 2024. "A candidate sex determination locus in amphibians which evolved by structural variation between X- and Y-chromosomes," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-15, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-49025-2
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-49025-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-49025-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-024-49025-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Haowen Zhang & Li Song & Xiaotao Wang & Haoyu Cheng & Chenfei Wang & Clifford A. Meyer & Tao Liu & Ming Tang & Srinivas Aluru & Feng Yue & X. Shirley Liu & Heng Li, 2021. "Fast alignment and preprocessing of chromatin profiles with Chromap," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-6, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chunhong Yu & Xiaoyun Lei & Fang Chen & Song Mao & Lu Lv & Honglu Liu & Xueying Hu & Runhan Wang & Licong Shen & Na Zhang & Yang Meng & Yunfan Shen & Jiale Chen & Pishun Li & Shi Huang & Changwei Lin , 2022. "ARID1A loss derepresses a group of human endogenous retrovirus-H loci to modulate BRD4-dependent transcription," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-16, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-49025-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.