The avian W chromosome is a refugium for endogenous retroviruses with likely effects on female-biased mutational load and genetic incompatibilities
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Documents
- The avian W chromosome is a refugium for endogenous retroviruses with likely effects on female-biased mutational load and genetic incompatibilities
Final published version, 921 KB, PDF document
It is a broadly observed pattern that the non-recombining regions of sex-limited chromosomes (Y and W) accumulate more repeats than the rest of the genome, even in species like birds with a low genome-wide repeat content. Here, we show that in birds with highly heteromorphic sex chromosomes, the W chromosome has a transposable element (TE) density of greater than 55% compared to the genome-wide density of less than 10%, and contains over half of all full-length (thus potentially active) endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) of the entire genome. Using RNA-seq and protein mass spectrometry data, we were able to detect signatures of female-specific ERV expression. We hypothesize that the avian W chromosome acts as a refugium for active ERVs, probably leading to female-biased mutational load that may influence female physiology similar to the 'toxic-Y' effect in Drosophila males. Furthermore, Haldane's rule predicts that the heterogametic sex has reduced fertility in hybrids. We propose that the excess of W-linked active ERVs over the rest of the genome may be an additional explanatory variable for Haldane's rule, with consequences for genetic incompatibilities between species through TE/repressor mismatches in hybrids. Together, our results suggest that the sequence content of female-specific W chromosomes can have effects far beyond sex determination and gene dosage. This article is part of the theme issue 'Challenging the paradigm in sex chromosome evolution: empirical and theoretical insights with a focus on vertebrates (Part II)'.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Article number | 20200186 |
Journal | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
Volume | 376 |
Issue number | 1833 |
Number of pages | 12 |
ISSN | 0962-8436 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2021 |
- transposable element, endogenous retrovirus, transcriptome, sex chromosome, W chromosome, Haldane's rule, HOMOMORPHIC SEX-CHROMOSOMES, Y-CHROMOSOME, DOSAGE COMPENSATION, LIFE-SPAN, EVOLUTION, GENOME, INSIGHTS, RECOMBINATION, ASSEMBLIES, EXPRESSION
Research areas
ID: 275988518