Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
143563 Trends in Ecology & Evolution 2009 9 Pages PDF
Abstract

In species with separate sexes, sex determination often has a genetic basis, and in a wide diversity of taxa a pair of cytologically distinguishable ‘sex chromosomes’ are found such that the chromosome complements of males and females differ (males are often XY and females XX, but sometimes females are ZW whereas males are ZZ). Recent evidence from sequences of sex-linked genes confirms classical genetic evidence that these chromosomes are a homologous pair, evolved from a normal chromosome pair, between which recombination stopped. We discuss why sex chromosomes evolve reduced recombination and why different parts of the chromosomes stopped recombining at different times, and outline some of the consequences of suppressed recombination, including the evolution of chromosome heteromorphism.

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Life Sciences Agricultural and Biological Sciences Agricultural and Biological Sciences (General)
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