A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Spatial Dynamics of Evolving Dosage Compensation in a Young Sex Chromosome System
Authors: Roland Schultheiß, Heidi M. Viitaniemi, Erica H. Leder
Publisher: OXFORD UNIV PRESS
Publication year: 2015
Journal: Genome Biology and Evolution
Journal name in source: GENOME BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
Journal acronym: GENOME BIOL EVOL
Volume: 7
Issue: 2
First page : 581
Last page: 590
Number of pages: 10
ISSN: 1759-6653
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evv013(external)
The loss of Y-linked genes during sex chromosome evolution creates a potentially deleterious low gene dosage in males. Recent studies have reported different strategies of dosage compensation. Unfortunately, most of these studies investigated taxa with comparatively old sex chromosome systems, which may limit insights into the evolution of dosage compensation and thus into the causes of different compensation strategies. Using deep RNA sequencing, we investigate differential expression patterns along the young XY chromosomes of threespine sticklebacks. Our strata-specific analyses provide new insights into the spatial patterns during the early stages of the evolution of dosage compensation. In particular, our results indicate systematic upregulation of male gene expression in stratum II, which in turn causes female hypertranscription in the same stratum. These findings are consistent with theoretical predictions that selection during early stages of sex chromosome evolution is stronger for a compensating upregulation in males than for the countercompensation of female hyperexpression. In contrast, no elevated gene expression is detectable in stratum I. We argue that strata-specific differences in compensating male gene expression may evolve in response to differences in the prevailing mechanism of Y chromosome degeneration.