Skip to main content
bioRxiv
  • Home
  • About
  • Submit
  • ALERTS / RSS
Advanced Search
New Results

A neo-sex chromosome in the Monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus

James R. Walters, Andrew Mongue
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/036483
James R. Walters
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: jrwalters@ku.edu
Andrew Mongue
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Abstract
  • Full Text
  • Info/History
  • Metrics
  • Preview PDF
Loading

Abstract

We report the discovery of a neo-sex chromosome in Monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus, and several of its close relatives. Z-linked scaffolds in the D. plexippus genome assembly were identified via sex-specific differences in Illumina sequencing coverage. Additionally, a majority of the D. plexippus genome assembly was assigned to chromosomes based on counts of 1-to-1 orthologs relative to the butterfly Melitaea cinxia (and two other Lepidopteran species), where genome scaffolds have been robustly mapped to linkage groups. Combining sequencing-coverage based Z-linkage with homology based chromosomal assignments provided strong evidence for a Z-autosome fusion in the Danaus lineage, involving the autosome homologous to chromosome 21 in M. cinxia. Coverage analysis also identified three scaffolds containing notable assembly errors resulting in chimeric Z-autosome fusions. The timing of this Z-autosome fusion event currently remains ambiguous due to incomplete sampling of karyotypes in the Danaini tribe of butterflies. The discovery of a neo-Z and the provisional assignment of chromosome linkage for >90% of D. plexippus genes lay the foundation for novel insights concerning sex chromosome evolution in this increasingly prominent female-heterogametic model species for functional and evolutionary genomics.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
Back to top
PreviousNext
Posted January 12, 2016.
Download PDF
Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about bioRxiv.

NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
A neo-sex chromosome in the Monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from bioRxiv
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the bioRxiv website.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Share
A neo-sex chromosome in the Monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus
James R. Walters, Andrew Mongue
bioRxiv 036483; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/036483
Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo LinkedIn logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
A neo-sex chromosome in the Monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus
James R. Walters, Andrew Mongue
bioRxiv 036483; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/036483

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Subject Area

  • Genomics
Subject Areas
All Articles
  • Animal Behavior and Cognition (4382)
  • Biochemistry (9591)
  • Bioengineering (7090)
  • Bioinformatics (24856)
  • Biophysics (12600)
  • Cancer Biology (9956)
  • Cell Biology (14349)
  • Clinical Trials (138)
  • Developmental Biology (7948)
  • Ecology (12105)
  • Epidemiology (2067)
  • Evolutionary Biology (15988)
  • Genetics (10925)
  • Genomics (14738)
  • Immunology (9869)
  • Microbiology (23659)
  • Molecular Biology (9484)
  • Neuroscience (50856)
  • Paleontology (369)
  • Pathology (1539)
  • Pharmacology and Toxicology (2681)
  • Physiology (4013)
  • Plant Biology (8657)
  • Scientific Communication and Education (1508)
  • Synthetic Biology (2394)
  • Systems Biology (6433)
  • Zoology (1346)