Moths and butterflies (Lepidoptera) are the most species-rich group of animals with female heterogamety, females mostly having a WZ, males a ZZ sex chromosome constitution. We studied chromatin conformation, activity, and inactivity of the sex chromosomes in the flour moth Ephestia kuehniella and the silkworm Bombyx mori, using immunostaining with anti-H3K9me2/3, anti-RNA polymerase II, and fluoro-uridine (FU) labelling of nascent transcripts, with conventional widefield fluorescence microscopy and 'spatial structured illumination microscopy' (3D-SIM). The Z chromosome is euchromatic in somatic cells and throughout meiosis. It is transcriptionally active in somatic cells and in the postpachaytene stage of meiosis. The W chromosome in contrast is heterochromatic in somatic cells as well as in meiotic cells at pachytene, but euchromatic and transcriptionally active like all other chromosomes at postpachytene. As the W chromosomes are apparently devoid of protein-coding genes, their transcripts must be non-coding. We found no indication of 'meiotic sex chromosome inactivation' (MSCI) in the two species.

Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences Institute of Entomology 370 05 České Budĕjovice Czech Republic

Institut für Biologie Zentrum für medizinische Struktur und Zellbiologie Universität zu Lübeck Ratzeburger Allee 160 23538 Lübeck Germany

Laboratory of Applied Entomology Faculty of Agriculture Iwate University Morioka 020 8550 Japan

Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research Gatersleben 06466 Seeland Germany

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