2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Elucidation of degeneration process of the Y chromosome by using the neo-sex chromosome systems in Drosophila species
| Project/Area Number |
15K14585
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
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| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
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| Research Field |
Evolutionary biology
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| Research Institution | Tokyo Metropolitan University (2016)
National Institute of Genetics (2015) |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Project Period (FY) |
2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
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| Keywords | 性染色体 / ショウジョウバエ / 次世代シーケンサー / Y染色体 / サイレンシング |
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
Sex chromosomes derived from a pair of autosomes provide a stable sex-determination to organisms, but result in a massive loss of functional genes on the Y chromosome, which is potentially deleterious. Despite this complicated outcomes, organisms have repeatedly and independently acquired sex chromosomes during evolution. A promising approach to solve this “paradox” is to uncover the degeneration process of the Y. In this study, I determined the genome sequences of three Drosophila species that recently acquired sex chromosomes and those of their closely-related species, and clarified the degeneration process of these Y chromosomes. The analyses revealed that the extent of Y degeneration does not necessarily proportional to the Y age. This finding implies that the initial Y dynamics after its emergence is largely governed by chromatin modification, resulting in rapid reversible gene silencing. This study poses a new concept with respect to the initial stage of Y “degeneration”.
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| Free Research Field |
分子進化学、ゲノム進化学
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