EVOLUTION OF SEX DETERMINATION SYSTEMS WITH HETEROGAMETIC MALES AND FEMALES IN SILENE. (2nd September 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Slancarova, Veronika; Zdanska, Jana; Janousek, Bohuslav; Talianova, Martina; Zschach, Christian; Zluvova, Jitka; Siroky, Jiri; Kovacova, Viera; Blavet, Hana; Danihelka, Jiri; Oxelman, Bengt; Widmer, Alex; Vyskot, Boris
• Is Part Of: Evolution. Volume 67:Number 12(2013:Dec.)
• Page Start: 3669
• Page End: 3677
• Publication Date: 2013-09-02
• Subjects: Evolution -- Periodicals; Heredity -- Periodicals; Évolution (Biologie) -- Périodiques; Hérédité -- Périodiques; 338.47004094
• DOI: 10.1111/evo.12223
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0014-3820

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p>The plant genus <italic>Silene</italic> has become a model for evolutionary studies of sex chromosomes and sex‐determining mechanisms. A recent study performed in <italic>Silene colpophylla</italic> showed that dioecy and the sex chromosomes in this species evolved independently from those in <italic>Silene latifolia</italic>, the most widely studied dioecious <italic>Silene</italic> species. The results of this study show that the sex‐determining system in <italic>Silene otites</italic>, a species related to <italic>S. colpophylla</italic>, is based on female heterogamety, a sex determination system that is unique among the <italic>Silene</italic> species studied to date. Our phylogenetic data support the placing of <italic>S. otites</italic> and <italic>S. colpophylla</italic> in the subsection <italic>Otites</italic> and the analysis of ancestral states suggests that the most recent common ancestor of <italic>S. otites</italic> and <italic>S. colpophylla</italic> was most probably dioecious. These observations imply that a switch from XX/XY sex determination to a ZZ/ZW system (or vice versa) occurred in the subsection <italic>Otites</italic>. This is the first report of two different types of heterogamety within one plant genus of this mostly nondioecious plant family.</p> </abstract>