Here we introduce a new model species, Silene colpophylla, that could facilitate research of sex chromosome evolution and sex-determining systems. This species is related to the well-established dioecious plant model Silene latifolia. Our results show that S. colpophylla is, similarly to S. latifolia, a male heterogametic species, but its sex chromosomes have evolved from a different pair of autosomes than in S. latifolia. The results of our phylogenetic study and mapping of homologs of S. latifolia X-linked genes indicate that the sex determination system in S. colpophylla evolved independently from that in S. latifolia. We assert that this model species pair will make it possible to study two independent patterns of sex chromosome evolution in related species.

Laboratory of Plant Developmental Genetics Institute of Biophysics Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic 612 65 Brno Czech Republic

Zobrazit více v PubMed

Bergero, R., A. Forrest, E. Kamau and D. Charlesworth, 2007. Evolutionary strata on the X chromosomes of the dioecious plant PubMed PMC

Bratteler, M., C. Lexer and A. Widmer, 2006. A genetic linkage map of PubMed

Charlesworth, B., and D. Charlesworth, 1978. Model for evolution of dioecy and gynodioecy. Am. Nat. 112 975–997.

Charlesworth, D., and F. R. Ganders, 1979. Population genetics of gynodioecy with cytoplasmic-genic male sterility. Heredity 43 213–218.

Charlesworth, D., and V. Laporte, 1998. The male-sterility polymorphism of PubMed PMC

Correns, C., 1928.

Desfeux, C., S. Maurice, J. P. Henry, B. Lejeune and P. H. Gouyon, 1996. Evolution of reproductive systems in the genus PubMed

Filatov, D. A., 2005. Evolutionary history of PubMed PMC

Galtier, N., M. Gouy and C. Gautier, 1996. SeaView and Phylo_win, two graphic tools for sequence alignment and molecular phylogeny. Comput. Appl. Biosci. 12 543–548. PubMed

Lengerova, M., E. Kejnovsky, R. Hobza, J. Macas, S. R. Grant PubMed

Maurice, S., E. Belhassen, D. Couvet and P. H. Gouyon, 1994. Evolution of dioecy: Can nuclear-cytoplasmic interactions select for maleness? Heredity 73 346–354. PubMed

Michaels, S. D., and R. M. Amasino, 1998. A robust method for detecting single-nucleotide changes as polymorphic markers by PCR. Plant J. 14 381–385. PubMed

Moore, R. C., O. Kozyreva, S. Lebel-Hardenack, J. Siroky, R. Hobza PubMed PMC

Neff, M. M., J. D. Neff, J. Chory and A. E. Pepper, 1998. dCAPS, a simple technique for the genetic analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms: experimental applications in PubMed

Nicolas, M., G. Marais, V. Hykelova, B. Janousek, V. Laporte PubMed PMC

Richards, A. J., 1986.

Ross, M. D., 1978. The evolution of gynodioecy and subdioecy. Evolution 32 174–188. PubMed

Sansome, F. W., 1938. Sex determination in

Schultz, S. T., 1994. Nucleo-cytoplasmic male sterility and alternative routes to dioecy. Evolution 48 1933–1945. PubMed

Van Ooijen, J. W., and R. E. Voorrips, 2001.

Vyskot, B., and R. Hobza, 2004. Gender in plants: sex chromosomes are emerging from the fog. Trends Genet. 20 432–438. PubMed

Warmke, H. E., 1942. A new method for determining the sex heterozygote in species with morphologically undifferentiated sex chromosomes and its application to

Westergaard, M., 1958. The mechanism of sex determination in dioecious flowering plants. Adv. Genet. 9 217–281. PubMed

Wrigley, F., 1986. Taxonomy and chorology of

Zluvova, J., M. Lengerova, M. Markova, R. Hobza, M. Nicolas PubMed

Zluvova, J., M. Nicolas, A. Berger, I. Negrutiu and F. Moneger, 2006. Premature arrest of the male flower meristem precedes sexual dimorphism in the dioecious plant PubMed PMC

Zluvova, J., S. Georgiev, B. Janousek, D. Charlesworth, B. Vyskot PubMed PMC

Evolution of sex determination and heterogamety changes in section Otites of the genus Silene

Sex and the flower - developmental aspects of sex chromosome evolution