2021/05/06 by Matthew Brian Couger, Scott William Roy, Noelle Anderson +11 · 1 citation
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Genetic and Clinical Aspects of Sex Determination and Chromosomal Abnormalities #Animal Genetics and Reproduction #Sexual Differentiation and Disorders #Vole #Chromosome #Biology #X chromosome #Genetics #Transformation (genetics) #Evolutionary biology #Gene #Demography #Sociology
paper · doi:10.1126/science.abg7019
openalex publication_date 2021/05/06 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
Mystery solved? Chromosomal sex determination arises when an autosomal locus acquires a sex-determining function. In some taxa, this process occurs often. The XY system in mammals, however, has been evolutionarily stable across a wide array of species. Fifty years ago, a variation on this norm was described in the creeping vole ( Microtus oregoni ), but the details have remained mostly unknown. Couger et al. sequenced the sex chromosomes in this species and found that the Y chromosome has been lost, the male-determining chromosome is a second X that is largely homologous to the female X, and both the maternally inherited and male-specific sex chromosomes carry vestiges of the ancestral Y. Science , this issue p. 592