---
_id: '10167'
abstract:
- lang: eng
text: Schistosomes, the human parasites responsible for snail fever, are female-heterogametic.
Different parts of their ZW sex chromosomes have stopped recombining in distinct
lineages, creating “evolutionary strata” of various ages. Although the Z-chromosome
is well characterized at the genomic and molecular level, the W-chromosome has
remained largely unstudied from an evolutionary perspective, as only a few W-linked
genes have been detected outside of the model species Schistosoma mansoni. Here,
we characterize the gene content and evolution of the W-chromosomes of S. mansoni
and of the divergent species S. japonicum. We use a combined RNA/DNA k-mer based
pipeline to assemble around 100 candidate W-specific transcripts in each of the
species. About half of them map to known protein coding genes, the majority homologous
to S. mansoni Z-linked genes. We perform an extended analysis of the evolutionary
strata present in the two species (including characterizing a previously undetected
young stratum in S. japonicum) to infer patterns of sequence and expression evolution
of W-linked genes at different time points after recombination was lost. W-linked
genes show evidence of degeneration, including high rates of protein evolution
and reduced expression. Most are found in young lineage-specific strata, with
only a few high expression ancestral W-genes remaining, consistent with the progressive
erosion of nonrecombining regions. Among these, the splicing factor u2af2 stands
out as a promising candidate for primary sex determination, opening new avenues
for understanding the molecular basis of the reproductive biology of this group.
acknowledged_ssus:
- _id: ScienComp
acknowledgement: The authors thank IT support at IST Austria for providing an optimal
environment for bioinformatic analyses. This work was supported by an Austrian Science
Foundation FWF grant (Project P28842) to B.V.
article_processing_charge: No
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Marwan N
full_name: Elkrewi, Marwan N
id: 0B46FACA-A8E1-11E9-9BD3-79D1E5697425
last_name: Elkrewi
orcid: 0000-0002-5328-7231
- first_name: Mikhail A.
full_name: Moldovan, Mikhail A.
id: c8bb7f32-3315-11ec-b58b-e5950e6c14a0
last_name: Moldovan
orcid: 0000-0002-8876-6494
- first_name: Marion A L
full_name: Picard, Marion A L
id: 2C921A7A-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Picard
orcid: 0000-0002-8101-2518
- first_name: Beatriz
full_name: Vicoso, Beatriz
id: 49E1C5C6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Vicoso
orcid: 0000-0002-4579-8306
citation:
ama: Elkrewi MN, Moldovan MA, Picard MAL, Vicoso B. Schistosome W-Linked genes inform
temporal dynamics of sex chromosome evolution and suggest candidate for sex determination.
Molecular Biology and Evolution. 2021. doi:10.1093/molbev/msab178
apa: Elkrewi, M. N., Moldovan, M. A., Picard, M. A. L., & Vicoso, B. (2021).
Schistosome W-Linked genes inform temporal dynamics of sex chromosome evolution
and suggest candidate for sex determination. Molecular Biology and Evolution.
Oxford University Press . https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msab178
chicago: Elkrewi, Marwan N, Mikhail A. Moldovan, Marion A L Picard, and Beatriz
Vicoso. “Schistosome W-Linked Genes Inform Temporal Dynamics of Sex Chromosome
Evolution and Suggest Candidate for Sex Determination.” Molecular Biology and
Evolution. Oxford University Press , 2021. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msab178.
ieee: M. N. Elkrewi, M. A. Moldovan, M. A. L. Picard, and B. Vicoso, “Schistosome
W-Linked genes inform temporal dynamics of sex chromosome evolution and suggest
candidate for sex determination,” Molecular Biology and Evolution. Oxford
University Press , 2021.
ista: Elkrewi MN, Moldovan MA, Picard MAL, Vicoso B. 2021. Schistosome W-Linked
genes inform temporal dynamics of sex chromosome evolution and suggest candidate
for sex determination. Molecular Biology and Evolution.
mla: Elkrewi, Marwan N., et al. “Schistosome W-Linked Genes Inform Temporal Dynamics
of Sex Chromosome Evolution and Suggest Candidate for Sex Determination.” Molecular
Biology and Evolution, Oxford University Press , 2021, doi:10.1093/molbev/msab178.
short: M.N. Elkrewi, M.A. Moldovan, M.A.L. Picard, B. Vicoso, Molecular Biology
and Evolution (2021).
date_created: 2021-10-21T07:49:12Z
date_published: 2021-06-19T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2023-08-14T08:03:06Z
day: '19'
ddc:
- '610'
department:
- _id: BeVi
doi: 10.1093/molbev/msab178
external_id:
isi:
- '000741368600009'
pmid:
- '34146097'
file:
- access_level: open_access
checksum: 1b096702fb356d9c0eb88e1b3fcff5f8
content_type: application/pdf
creator: dernst
date_created: 2022-05-06T09:47:18Z
date_updated: 2022-05-06T09:47:18Z
file_id: '11352'
file_name: 2021_MolecularBiolEvolution_Elkrewi.pdf
file_size: 1008594
relation: main_file
success: 1
file_date_updated: 2022-05-06T09:47:18Z
has_accepted_license: '1'
isi: 1
keyword:
- sex chromosomes
- evolutionary strata
- W-linked gene
- sex determining gene
- schistosome parasites
language:
- iso: eng
month: '06'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
pmid: 1
project:
- _id: 250ED89C-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425
call_identifier: FWF
grant_number: P28842-B22
name: Sex chromosome evolution under male- and female- heterogamety
publication: Molecular Biology and Evolution
publication_identifier:
eissn:
- 1537-1719
issn:
- 0737-4038
publication_status: published
publisher: 'Oxford University Press '
quality_controlled: '1'
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: Schistosome W-Linked genes inform temporal dynamics of sex chromosome evolution
and suggest candidate for sex determination
tmp:
image: /images/cc_by.png
legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode
name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0)
short: CC BY (4.0)
type: journal_article
user_id: 4359f0d1-fa6c-11eb-b949-802e58b17ae8
year: '2021'
...