Evolution of sex‐biased genes in Drosophila species with neo‐sex chromosomes: Potential contribution to reducing the sexual conflict

Abstract An advantage of sex chromosomes may be the potential to reduce sexual conflict because they provide a basis for selection to operate separately on females and males. However, evaluating the relationship between sex chromosomes and sexual conflict is challenging owing to the difficulty in me...

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Main Authors: Anika Minovic, Masafumi Nozawa
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2024-07-01
Series:Ecology and Evolution
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.11701
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author Anika Minovic
Masafumi Nozawa
author_facet Anika Minovic
Masafumi Nozawa
author_sort Anika Minovic
collection DOAJ
description Abstract An advantage of sex chromosomes may be the potential to reduce sexual conflict because they provide a basis for selection to operate separately on females and males. However, evaluating the relationship between sex chromosomes and sexual conflict is challenging owing to the difficulty in measuring sexual conflict and substantial divergence between species with and without sex chromosomes. We therefore examined sex‐biased gene expression as a proxy for sexual conflict in three sets of Drosophila species with and without young sex chromosomes, the so‐called neo‐sex chromosomes. In all sets, we detected more sex‐biased genes in the species with neo‐sex chromosomes than in the species without neo‐sex chromosomes in larvae, pupae, and adult somatic tissues but not in gonads. In particular, many unbiased genes became either female‐ or male‐biased after linkage to the neo‐sex chromosomes in larvae, despite the low sexual dimorphism. For example, genes involved in metabolism, a key determinant for the rate of development in many animals, were enriched in the genes that acquired sex‐biased expression on the neo‐sex chromosomes at the larval stage. These genes may be targets of sexually antagonistic selection (i.e., large size and rapid development are selected for in females but selected against in males). These results indicate that acquiring neo‐sex chromosomes may have contributed to a reduction in sexual conflict, particularly at the larval stage, in Drosophila..
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spelling doaj-art-124231c744934ea79f7a7f8c7ab657ee2025-08-20T03:55:58ZengWileyEcology and Evolution2045-77582024-07-01147n/an/a10.1002/ece3.11701Evolution of sex‐biased genes in Drosophila species with neo‐sex chromosomes: Potential contribution to reducing the sexual conflictAnika Minovic0Masafumi Nozawa1Department of Biological Sciences Tokyo Metropolitan University Hachioji JapanDepartment of Biological Sciences Tokyo Metropolitan University Hachioji JapanAbstract An advantage of sex chromosomes may be the potential to reduce sexual conflict because they provide a basis for selection to operate separately on females and males. However, evaluating the relationship between sex chromosomes and sexual conflict is challenging owing to the difficulty in measuring sexual conflict and substantial divergence between species with and without sex chromosomes. We therefore examined sex‐biased gene expression as a proxy for sexual conflict in three sets of Drosophila species with and without young sex chromosomes, the so‐called neo‐sex chromosomes. In all sets, we detected more sex‐biased genes in the species with neo‐sex chromosomes than in the species without neo‐sex chromosomes in larvae, pupae, and adult somatic tissues but not in gonads. In particular, many unbiased genes became either female‐ or male‐biased after linkage to the neo‐sex chromosomes in larvae, despite the low sexual dimorphism. For example, genes involved in metabolism, a key determinant for the rate of development in many animals, were enriched in the genes that acquired sex‐biased expression on the neo‐sex chromosomes at the larval stage. These genes may be targets of sexually antagonistic selection (i.e., large size and rapid development are selected for in females but selected against in males). These results indicate that acquiring neo‐sex chromosomes may have contributed to a reduction in sexual conflict, particularly at the larval stage, in Drosophila..https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.11701Drosophilaneo‐sex chromosomesex‐biased gene expressionsexual conflictsexual selectionsexual size dimorphism
spellingShingle Anika Minovic
Masafumi Nozawa
Evolution of sex‐biased genes in Drosophila species with neo‐sex chromosomes: Potential contribution to reducing the sexual conflict
Ecology and Evolution
Drosophila
neo‐sex chromosome
sex‐biased gene expression
sexual conflict
sexual selection
sexual size dimorphism
title Evolution of sex‐biased genes in Drosophila species with neo‐sex chromosomes: Potential contribution to reducing the sexual conflict
title_full Evolution of sex‐biased genes in Drosophila species with neo‐sex chromosomes: Potential contribution to reducing the sexual conflict
title_fullStr Evolution of sex‐biased genes in Drosophila species with neo‐sex chromosomes: Potential contribution to reducing the sexual conflict
title_full_unstemmed Evolution of sex‐biased genes in Drosophila species with neo‐sex chromosomes: Potential contribution to reducing the sexual conflict
title_short Evolution of sex‐biased genes in Drosophila species with neo‐sex chromosomes: Potential contribution to reducing the sexual conflict
title_sort evolution of sex biased genes in drosophila species with neo sex chromosomes potential contribution to reducing the sexual conflict
topic Drosophila
neo‐sex chromosome
sex‐biased gene expression
sexual conflict
sexual selection
sexual size dimorphism
url https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.11701
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