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Sex-Biased Gene Expression in a ZW Sex Determination System

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Abstract

Studies of the transcriptome have shown that a substantial fraction of interspecific differences in gene expression is the result of sex-biased gene expression. These results suggest that sex-dependent selection may be an important force in generating differences between species but to date all studies have focused on Drosophila. We examined a sample of the transcriptome in the gonads of two species of Xenopus to provide an additional test of how sex-biased gene expression may contribute to differences in gene expression between species. In contrast to Drosophila, Xenopus provides an example of a ZW system with morphologically indistinguishable sex chromosomes. About 81% of the transcriptome was differentially expressed between X. laevis and X. muelleri and there were more genes that were male-biased compared to the number of genes that were female-biased or non-sex-biased. While there were more genes up-regulated in males of Xenopus, the largest magnitude difference in expression between species occurred in female-biased genes, and male-biased genes were proportionally more abundant for the smallest changes in expression between species. Our results suggest that more genes have a role in the function of the testis compared to the ovary and female-biased genes play a principle role in expression divergence between species. These results differ from those in the Drosophila XY system in that more female-biased genes had >4-fold difference of expression between species than male-biased genes, suggesting that ZW sex chromosomes may facilitate enhanced gene expression divergence between species.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Professor R.C. Tinsley for donating specimens of Xenopus muelleri for use in this study and E. Betrán for insightful discussions on sex-biased gene expression. We also thank Jacob Malcom and three anonymous reviewers who all provided insightful comments and suggestions that were crucial to completing the final version of the manuscript. This work was conducted following the protocols of The University of Texas—Arlington Animal Care Committee (Protocol No. A05.001). Funding was provided by a National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant (DEB-0508882) and Texas Academy of Science Student Research Grant to J.H.M.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, The University of Texas—Arlington, Box 19498, Arlington, TX, 76019, USA

    John H. Malone & Pawel Michalak

  2. Department of Mathematics, The University of Texas—Arlington, Box 19408, Arlington, TX, 76019, USA

    Doyle L. Hawkins Jr.

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  1. John H. Malone
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  2. Doyle L. Hawkins Jr.
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Correspondence to Pawel Michalak.

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Malone, J.H., Hawkins, D.L. & Michalak, P. Sex-Biased Gene Expression in a ZW Sex Determination System. J Mol Evol 63, 427–436 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-005-0263-4

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