Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
Cell. 2014 Nov 6;159(4):716-8. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2014.10.036.
Y chromosomes are challenged by a lack of recombination and are transmitted to the next generation only via males. Sequencing of the mouse Y reveals how these properties drive opposing evolutionary processes: massive decay of ancestral genes and convergent acquisition and amplification of spermatid-expressed gene families on the X and Y chromosome. The convergent acquisition and amplification of X-linked paralogs on the Y maintains a surprisingly gene-rich, euchromatic mammalian male chromosome.
Y 染色体缺乏重组,只能通过雄性传递给下一代。对老鼠 Y 染色体的测序揭示了这些特性如何推动相反的进化过程:大量祖先基因的衰减,以及 X 和 Y 染色体上精子表达基因家族的趋同获得和扩增。Y 染色体上 X 连锁同源基因的趋同获得和扩增,保持了一个令人惊讶的富含基因、常染色质的哺乳动物雄性染色体。