Cross-species chromosome painting tracks the independent origin of multiple sex chromosomes in two cofamiliar Erythrinidae fishes
2011
Cioffi Marcelo | Sá | nchez Antonio | Marchal Juan | Kosyakova Nadezda | Liehr Thomas | Trifonov Vladimir | Bertollo Luiz
Abstract Background The Erythrinidae fish family is characterized by a large variation with respect to diploid chromosome numbers and sex-determining systems among its species, including two multiple X<sub>1</sub>X<sub>2</sub>Y sex systems in Hoplias malabaricus and Erythrinus erythrinus. At first, the occurrence of a same sex chromosome system within a family suggests that the sex chromosomes are correlated and originated from ancestral XY chromosomes that were either homomorphic or at an early stage of differentiation. To identify the origin and evolution of these X<sub>1</sub>X<sub>2</sub>Y sex chromosomes, we performed reciprocal cross-species FISH experiments with two sex-chromosome-specific probes designed from microdissected X<sub>1 </sub>and Y chromosomes of H. malabaricus and E. erythrinus, respectively. Results Our results yield valuable information regarding the origin and evolution of these sex chromosome systems. Our data indicate that these sex chromosomes evolved independently in these two closed related Erythrinidae species. Different autosomes were first converted into a poorly differentiated XY sex pair in each species, and additional chromosomal rearrangements produced both X<sub>1</sub>X<sub>2</sub>Y sex systems that are currently present. Conclusions Our data provide new insights into the origin and evolution of sex chromosomes, which increases our knowledge about fish sex chromosome evolution.
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