Project description:Sex chromosomes evolved many times independently in many different organisms. According to the currently accepted model, X- and Y-chromosomes evolve from a pair of autosomes via a series of inversions leading to step-wise expansion of a non-recombining region on the Y chromosome (NRY) and the consequential degeneration of genes trapped in the NRY. Our results suggest that plants represent an exception to this rule due to their unique life-cycle that includes alteration of diploid and haploid generations and widespread haploid expression of genes in plant gametophytes. Using a new high-throughput approach we identified over 400 new genes expressed from X- and Y- chromosomes in Silene latifolia, a plant that evolved sex chromosomes about 10 million years ago. Y-linked genes show faster accumulation of amino-acid replacements and loss of expression, compared to X-linked genes. These degenerative processes are significantly less pronounced in more constrained genes and genes that are likely exposed to haploid-phase selection. This may explain why plants retain hundreds of expressed Y-linked genes despite millions of years of Y-chromosome degeneration, while animal Y-chromosomes are almost completely degenerate. We used a combination of Illumina sequencing of cDNA (RNAseq) and segregation analysis of SNPs identified from RNAseq to identify sex-linked genes in plant Silene latifolia. The experiment involved RNAseq from male and female parents and F1 progeny for two genetic crosses. We submit raw data in fastq format for 11 samples. Four of these samples are single end Solexa reads (a single file per sample) and seven samples were sequenced with paired end Solexa sequencing (two fastq files per sample) - 18 files in total.
Project description:Silene latifolia is a dioecious plant with heteromorphic sex chromosomes that have originated only ~10 MYA and is a promising model organism to study sex chromosome evolution in plants. Previous work suggests that S. latifolia XY chromosomes have gradually stopped recombining and the Y chromosome is undergoing degeneration as in animal sex chromosomes. However, this work has been limited by the paucity of sex-linked genes available. Here, we used 35 Gb of RNA-seq data from multiple males (XY) and females (XX) of a S. latifolia inbred line to detect sex-linked SNPs and identified more than 1700 sex-linked contigs (with X-linked and Y-linked alleles). Analyses using known sex-linked and autosomal genes, together with simulations indicate that these newly identified sex-linked contigs are reliable. Using read numbers, we then estimated expression levels of X-linked and Y-linked alleles in males and found an overall trend of reduced expression of Y-linked alleles, consistent with a widespread ongoing degeneration of the S. latifolia Y chromosome. By comparing expression intensities of X-linked alleles in males and females, we found that X-linked allele expression increases as Y-linked allele expression decreases in males, which makes expression of sex-linked contigs similar in both sexes. This phenomenon is known as dosage compensation and has so far only been observed in evolutionary old animal sex chromosome systems. Our results suggest that dosage compensation has evolved in plants and that it can quickly evolve de novo after the origin of sex chromosomes.
Project description:Silene latifolia is a dioecious plant with heteromorphic sex chromosomes that have originated only ~10 MYA and is a promising model organism to study sex chromosome evolution in plants. Previous work suggests that S. latifolia XY chromosomes have gradually stopped recombining and the Y chromosome is undergoing degeneration as in animal sex chromosomes. However, this work has been limited by the paucity of sex-linked genes available. Here, we used 35 Gb of RNA-seq data from multiple males (XY) and females (XX) of a S. latifolia inbred line to detect sex-linked SNPs and identified more than 1700 sex-linked contigs (with X-linked and Y-linked alleles). Analyses using known sex-linked and autosomal genes, together with simulations indicate that these newly identified sex-linked contigs are reliable. Using read numbers, we then estimated expression levels of X-linked and Y-linked alleles in males and found an overall trend of reduced expression of Y-linked alleles, consistent with a widespread ongoing degeneration of the S. latifolia Y chromosome. By comparing expression intensities of X-linked alleles in males and females, we found that X-linked allele expression increases as Y-linked allele expression decreases in males, which makes expression of sex-linked contigs similar in both sexes. This phenomenon is known as dosage compensation and has so far only been observed in evolutionary old animal sex chromosome systems. Our results suggest that dosage compensation has evolved in plants and that it can quickly evolve de novo after the origin of sex chromosomes. 2 Samples (male and female) in triplicates
Project description:Sex chromosomes evolved many times independently in many different organisms. According to the currently accepted model, X- and Y-chromosomes evolve from a pair of autosomes via a series of inversions leading to step-wise expansion of a non-recombining region on the Y chromosome (NRY) and the consequential degeneration of genes trapped in the NRY. Our results suggest that plants represent an exception to this rule due to their unique life-cycle that includes alteration of diploid and haploid generations and widespread haploid expression of genes in plant gametophytes. Using a new high-throughput approach we identified over 400 new genes expressed from X- and Y- chromosomes in Silene latifolia, a plant that evolved sex chromosomes about 10 million years ago. Y-linked genes show faster accumulation of amino-acid replacements and loss of expression, compared to X-linked genes. These degenerative processes are significantly less pronounced in more constrained genes and genes that are likely exposed to haploid-phase selection. This may explain why plants retain hundreds of expressed Y-linked genes despite millions of years of Y-chromosome degeneration, while animal Y-chromosomes are almost completely degenerate.
Project description:We present evidence implicating the BAF (BRG1/BRM Associated Factor) chromatin remodeler in meiotic sex chromosome inactivation (MSCI). By immunofluorescence (IF), the putative BAF DNA binding subunit, ARID1A (AT-rich Interaction Domain 1a), appeared enriched on the male sex chromosomes during diplonema of meiosis I. The germ cell-specific depletion of ARID1A resulted in a pachynema arrest and failure to repress sex-linked genes indicating a defective MSCI. Consistent with this defect, mutant sex chromosomes displayed an abnormal presence of elongating RNA polymerase II coupled with an overall increase in chromatin accessibility detectable by ATAC-seq. By investigating potential mechanisms underlying these anomalies, we identified a role for ARID1A in promoting the preferential enrichment of the histone variant, H3.3, on the sex chromosomes, a known hallmark of MSCI. Without ARID1A, the sex chromosomes appeared depleted of H3.3 at levels resembling autosomes. Higher resolution analyses by CUT&RUN revealed dramatic shifts in sex-linked H3.3 associations from discrete intergenic sites and broader gene-body domains to promoters in response to the loss of ARID1A. Several sex-linked sites displayed ectopic H3.3 occupancy that does not co-localize with DMC1 (DNA Meiotic Recombinase 1). This observation suggests a requirement for ARID1A in DMC1 localization to the asynapsed sex chromatids. We conclude that ARID1A-directed H3.3 localization influences sex chromosome gene regulation and DNA repair during meiosis I.