%0 Journal Article
%T Demasculinization of the Anopheles gambiae X chromosome
%A Kalle Magnusson
%A Gareth J Lycett
%A Antonio M Mendes
%A Amy Lynd
%A Philippos-Aris Papathanos
%A Andrea Crisanti
%A Nikolai Windbichler
%J BMC Evolutionary Biology
%D 2012
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1471-2148-12-69
%X We performed a meta-analysis of sex-biased gene expression in Anopheles gambiae which provides evidence for a general underrepresentation of male-biased genes on the X-chromosome that increased in significance with the observed degree of sex-bias. A phylogenomic comparison between Drosophila melanogaster, Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus also indicates that the Anopheles X chromosome strongly disfavours the evolutionary conservation of male-biased expression and that novel male-biased genes are more likely to arise on autosomes. Finally, we demonstrate experimentally that transgenes situated on the Anopheles gambiae X chromosome are transcriptionally silenced in the male germline.The data presented here support the hypothesis that the observed demasculinization of the Anopheles X chromosome is driven by X-chromosome inactivation in the male germline and by sexual antagonism. The demasculinization appears to be the consequence of a loss of male-biased expression, rather than a failure in the establishment or the extinction of male-biased genes.
%K Anopheles gambiae
%K demasculinization
%K germline x-chromosome inactivation
%K sexual antagonism
%K dosage compensation
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/12/69/abstract