Vicoso Beatriz, Charlesworth Brian
Institute of Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, UK.
Nat Rev Genet. 2006 Aug;7(8):645-53. doi: 10.1038/nrg1914.
Although the X chromosome is usually similar to the autosomes in size and cytogenetic appearance, theoretical models predict that its hemizygosity in males may cause unusual patterns of evolution. The sequencing of several genomes has indeed revealed differences between the X chromosome and the autosomes in the rates of gene divergence, patterns of gene expression and rates of gene movement between chromosomes. A better understanding of these patterns should provide valuable information on the evolution of genes located on the X chromosome. It could also suggest solutions to more general problems in molecular evolution, such as detecting selection and estimating mutational effects on fitness.
尽管X染色体在大小和细胞遗传学外观上通常与常染色体相似，但理论模型预测，其在男性中的半合子状态可能会导致异常的进化模式。几个基因组的测序确实揭示了X染色体与常染色体在基因分歧率、基因表达模式和染色体间基因移动率方面的差异。更好地理解这些模式应该能为位于X染色体上的基因的进化提供有价值的信息。它还可能为分子进化中更普遍的问题提供解决方案，比如检测选择和估计突变对适应性的影响。
