Re-inventing sex: A W chromosome and a path out of parthenogenesis for Bunonema nematodes
Janna L. FierstiD, Lara Arbex HerdeniD, Victoria K. EggersiD, Christina A BurnsiD, Jasbelle SosaiD, Pushpalata KayasthaiD, Michelle A. McCauleyiD, Karolina WillicottiD
Abstract
Sex chromosomes are deeply conserved in some organisms but remarkably labile in others. Here we describe the evolution of a novel sex chromosome in the nematode Bunonema JU3390, a species with an autosome-derived genomic segment currently functioning as a female-limited W chromosome. We propose this neo sex chromosome system evolved to escape lethal structural mutations accumulated during a period of parthenogenesis, demonstrating the role of evolutionary contingency in this rapid re-invention of sex.
02 /Specification & Classification
Click any tag to browse matching papers- Citations
- 0
Reproducibility ledger
Nobody has reported trying to reproduce this paper yet. Did you replicate an experiment or run the code? Your report saves the next lab a week.
Sign in to file a reproducibility report.
Related papers
- Emergence and stabilisation of a neo-Y chromosome in nematode species with rare males
Brice Letcher, Lewis Stevens, … Marie Delattre·Molecular Biology and EvolutionPeer-reviewed·Jul 20, 2026
- ZW sex-chromosome evolution and contagious parthenogenesis in Artemia brine shrimp
M. Elkrewi, U. Khauratovich, … B. Vicoso·bioRxiv·Apr 27, 2022
- Asexual male production by ZW recombination in Artemia parthenogenetica
L. Boyer, R. Jabbour-Zahab, … T. Lenormand·bioRxiv·Apr 1, 2022
- Environmental stress maintains trioecy in nematode worms
A. G. Anderson, L. T. Bubrig, J. L. Fierst·bioRxiv·Dec 3, 2019
- Evolutionary dynamics of sex chromosomes and candidate sex-determining genes across the beetle phylogeny
Yuan Fu, W T Sun, Bengt Hansson·bioRxiv·Jul 21, 2026
- Sex chromosome evolution in beetles
R. Bracewell, A. Tran, … D. Bachtrog·bioRxiv·Jan 18, 2023