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Sexual differentiation is fundamentally important for reproduction, yet the genetic triggers of this developmental process can vary, even between closely related species. Recent studies have uncovered, for example, variation in the genetic triggers for sexual differentiation within and between species of African clawed frogs (genus Xenopus). Here, we extend these discoveries by demonstrating that yet another sex determination system exists in Xenopus, specifically in the species Xenopus borealis This system evolved recently in an ancestor of X. borealis that had the same sex determination system as X. laevis, a system which itself is newly evolved. Strikingly, the genomic region carrying the sex determination factor in X. borealis is homologous to that of therian mammals, including humans. Our results offer insights into how the genetic underpinnings of conserved phenotypes evolve, and suggest an important role for cooption of genetic building blocks with conserved developmental roles.
Figure 1. Phylogenetic relationships inferred from representative species in subgenus Xenopus suggests DM-W was gained before diversification of (4x = 36) tetraploids and then lost in an ancestor of X. borealis. This phylogeny was recovered from *Beast analysis of transcriptome data and is topologically consistent with those recovered from other analyses of nuclear DNA and of mitochondrial DNA. Dots over nodes indicate 1.0 posterior probability; bars above nodes indicate the 95% credible intervals for divergence time in millions of years (MY). All species depicted are tetraploids except the outgroup species, X. tropicalis, which is diploid. For this analysis, one homeolog from any one of the tetraploid species was included for each gene, and is indicated by the gray subtree (File S1, section S1.1). The timing of the origin of DM-W with respect to the allopolyploidization event (whether before or after) is unclear. Xenopus silhouette from Phylopic by Sarah Werning, CC04 license.
Figure 2. Sex chromosomes, indicated in black, in three species of African clawed frog are not homologous. For the tetraploid species, X. laevis and X. borealis, both homeologous (L and S) chromosomes are shown. Chromosome nomenclature for X. tropicalis and X. laevis follows (Matsuda et al. 2015).
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