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Differentiation of sex chromosomes and karyotypic evolution in the eye-lid geckos (Squamata: Gekkota: Eublepharidae), a group with different modes of sex determination

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Abstract

The eyelid geckos (family Eublepharidae) include both species with temperature-dependent sex determination and species where genotypic sex determination (GSD) was suggested based on the observation of equal sex ratios at several incubation temperatures. In this study, we present data on karyotypes and chromosomal characteristics in 12 species (Aeluroscalabotes felinus, Coleonyx brevis, Coleonyx elegans, Coleonyx variegatus, Eublepharis angramainyu, Eublepharis macularius, Goniurosaurus araneus, Goniurosaurus lichtenfelderi, Goniurosaurus luii, Goniurosaurus splendens, Hemitheconyx caudicinctus, and Holodactylus africanus) covering all genera of the family, and search for the presence of heteromorphic sex chromosomes. Phylogenetic mapping of chromosomal changes showed a long evolutionary stasis of karyotypes with all acrocentric chromosomes followed by numerous chromosomal rearrangements in the ancestors of two lineages. We have found heteromorphic sex chromosomes in only one species, which suggests that sex chromosomes in most GSD species of the eyelid geckos are not morphologically differentiated. The sexual difference in karyotype was detected only in C. elegans which has a multiple sex chromosome system (X1X2Y). The metacentric Y chromosome evolved most likely via centric fusion of two acrocentric chromosomes involving loss of interstitial telomeric sequences. We conclude that the eyelid geckos exhibit diversity in sex determination ranging from the absence of any sexual differences to heteromorphic sex chromosomes, which makes them an interesting system for exploring the evolutionary origin of sexually dimorphic genomes.

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Abbreviations

Ag-NOR:

Silver-stained nucleolar organizer region

DAPI:

4,6-diamidino-2-phenolindole

FISH:

Fluorescence in situ hybridization

GSD:

Genotypic sex determination

MYA:

Million years ago

NF:

Fundamental number, the number of chromosome arms in a somatic cell of a particular species

PBD:

Phosphate-buffered detergent

SSC:

Standard sodium citrate

TSD:

Temperature-dependent sex determination

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Acknowledgments

We thank Š. Pelikánová for her brilliant assistance in the laboratory, C. Ozouf-Costaz for the kind provision of 28 S rDNA probe and P. O’Brien for flow sorting. J. Král, J. Zima, and C.M. Johnson offered many valuable critical comments. The funding to M.P. was provided by the Grant Agency of the Charles University (130/2006-B-BIO and No. 94209) and the projects Synthesys and Thermadapt (ESF), to L.K. by the Czech Science Foundation (projects Nos. 206/06/P282 and 506/10/0718). The institutional supports were given by the Ministry of the Education of the Czech Republic (MSM0021620828) and the Centre for Biodiversity Research (LC 06073). The procedures on animals were held under the approval and supervision of the Ethical Committee of the Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague. This paper represents the second part of our series “Evolution of sex determining systems in lizards”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Viničná 7, 128 44, Praha 2, Czech Republic

    Martina Pokorná & Lukáš Kratochvíl

  2. Department of Vertebrate Evolutionary Biology and Genetics, Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Rumburská 89, 277 21, Liběchov, Czech Republic

    Martina Pokorná, Marie Rábová & Petr Ráb

  3. Cambridge Resource Centre for Comparative Genomics, Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ES, UK

    Malcolm A. Ferguson-Smith & Willem Rens

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  1. Martina Pokorná
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Correspondence to Lukáš Kratochvíl.

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Pokorná, M., Rábová, M., Ráb, P. et al. Differentiation of sex chromosomes and karyotypic evolution in the eye-lid geckos (Squamata: Gekkota: Eublepharidae), a group with different modes of sex determination. Chromosome Res 18, 809–820 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10577-010-9154-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10577-010-9154-7

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