Rapid evolution of female-biased genes among four species of malaria mosquitoes.
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Abstract | Understanding how phenotypic differences between males and females arise from the sex-biased expression of nearly identical genomes can reveal important insights into the biology and evolution of a species. Among mosquito species, these phenotypic differences include vectorial capacity, as it is only females that blood feed and thus transmit human malaria. Here, we use RNA-seq data from multiple tissues of four vector species spanning the phylogeny to explore the genomic and evolutionary properties of sex-biased genes. We find that, in these mosquitoes, in contrast to what has been found in many other organisms, female-biased genes are more rapidly evolving in sequence, expression, and genic turnover than male-biased genes. Our results suggest that this atypical pattern may be due to the combination of sex-specific life history challenges encountered by females, such as blood feeding. Furthermore, female propensity to mate only once in nature in male swarms likely diminishes sexual selection of post-reproductive traits related to sperm competition among males. We also develop a comparative framework to systematically explore tissue- and sex-specific splicing to document its conservation throughout the genus and identify a set of candidate genes for future functional analyses of sex-specific isoform usage. Finally, our data reveal that the deficit of male-biased genes on the X Chromosomes in is a conserved feature in this genus and can be directly attributed to chromosome-wide transcriptional regulation that de-masculinizes the X in male reproductive tissues. |
Year of Publication | 2017
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Journal | Genome Res
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Volume | 27
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Issue | 9
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Pages | 1536-1548
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Date Published | 2017 09
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ISSN | 1549-5469
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DOI | 10.1101/gr.217216.116
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PubMed ID | 28747381
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PubMed Central ID | PMC5580713
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Grant list | Wellcome Trust / United Kingdom
335724 / European Research Council / International
G1100339 / Medical Research Council / United Kingdom
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