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Sex Chromosome Evolution: Evidence from Fish, Fly and Moth Species

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Chromosomes Today

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Abstract

In several plant taxa and in many animal taxa, one chromosome pair controls the development to a female or a male. This is commonly referred to as “chromosomal sex determination”. One or more genes for the primary sex determining signal are located on these chromosomes but even if multiple genes are involved, they are transmitted as a single unit through meiosis. The sex determining mechanism, therefore, is formally “monofactorial” in terms of transmission genetics, it follows the Mendelian backcross scheme and produces a primary 1:1 ratio of females: males among offspring. Chromosomal sex determination is of two types, XX/XY or WZ/ZZ, depending on whether females or males are the heterogametic sex, but otherwise there is no basic difference between the two. There are variants of both types e.g. XX/X, X1X1X2X2/X1X2Y, XX/XY1Y2, Z/ZZ, W1W2Z/ZZ and even more complex systems. But even multiple sex chromosomes segregate as a single unit in meiosis of the heterogametic sex.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Biologie, Medizinische Universität Lübeck, Ratzeburger Allee 160, D23538, Lübeck, Germany

    Walther Traut

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  1. Walther Traut
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Genetics, University of Würzburg, Germany

    Michael Schmid  & Indrajit Nanda  & 

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© 2004 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Traut, W. (2004). Sex Chromosome Evolution: Evidence from Fish, Fly and Moth Species. In: Schmid, M., Nanda, I. (eds) Chromosomes Today. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1033-6_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1033-6_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-5855-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-017-1033-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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