Changing Sex for Selfish Gain: B Chromosomes of Lake Malawi Cichlid Fish

Overview

Journal Sci Rep

Specialty Science

Date 2019 Dec 29

PMID 31882583

Citations 25

Authors

Frances E Clark

Thomas D Kocher

Affiliations

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Abstract

B chromosomes are extra, non-essential chromosomes present in addition to the normal complement of A chromosomes. Many species of cichlid fish in Lake Malawi carry a haploid, female-restricted B chromosome. Here we show that this B chromosome exhibits drive, with an average transmission rate of 70%. The offspring of B-transmitting females exhibit a strongly female-biased sex ratio. Genotyping of these offspring reveals the B chromosome carries a female sex determiner that is epistatically dominant to an XY system on linkage group 7. We suggest that this sex determiner evolved to enhance the meiotic drive of the B chromosome. This is some of the first evidence that female meiotic drive can lead to the invasion of new sex chromosomes solely to benefit the driver, and not to compensate for skewed sex ratios.

Citing Articles

Diversity of Sex Chromosomes in Vertebrates: Six Novel Sex Chromosomes in Basal Haplochromines (Teleostei: Cichlidae).

Behrens K, Koblmueller S, Kocher T Genome Biol Evol. 2024; 16(7).

PMID: 39073759 PMC: 11285159. DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evae152.

Turnover of sex chromosomes in the Lake Tanganyika cichlid tribe Tropheini (Teleostei: Cichlidae).

Behrens K, Zimmermann H, Blazek R, Reichard M, Koblmuller S, Kocher T Sci Rep. 2024; 14(1):2471.

PMID: 38291228 PMC: 10828463. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-53021-3.

New perspectives on the causes and consequences of male meiotic drive.

Courret C, Wei X, Larracuente A Curr Opin Genet Dev. 2023; 83:102111.

PMID: 37704518 PMC: 10842977. DOI: 10.1016/j.gde.2023.102111.

B chromosomes reveal a female meiotic drive suppression system in Drosophila melanogaster.

Hanlon S, Hawley R Curr Biol. 2023; 33(11):2300-2306.e5.

PMID: 37146608 PMC: 10247447. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.04.028.

Comprehending the dynamism of B chromosomes in their journey towards becoming unselfish.

Rajpal V, Sharma S, Sehgal D, Sharma P, Wadhwa N, Dhakate P Front Cell Dev Biol. 2023; 10:1072716.

PMID: 36684438 PMC: 9846793. DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2022.1072716.

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