Evolution of dosage compensation (original) (raw)

Abstract

In polytene chromosome squashes from the fruit fly_Drosophila melanogaster_, the single, dosage-compensated X chromosome in males can be distinguished from the autosomes by the presence of an isoform of histone H4 acetylated at lysine 16, H4.Ac16. We have used H4.Ac16 as a marker to examine the evolving relationship between dosage compensation and sex chromosome composition in species of_Drosophila_ with one (D. melanogaster), two (D. pseudoobscura) or three (D. miranda) identifiable X chromosome arms. In each case, we find that H4.Ac16 is distributed as discrete, closely spaced bands along the entire length of each X chromosome, the only exception being the X2 chromosome of_D. miranda_ in which a terminal region constituting about 10% of the chromosome by length is not labelled with anti-H4.Ac16 antibodies. We conclude that, with this exception, dosage compensation extends along the X chromosomes of all three species. As_D. pseudoobscura_ and_D. miranda_ diverged only about 2 Mya, the spread of dosage-compensated loci along X2 has been rapid, suggesting that regional changes rather than piecemeal, gene-by-gene, changes may have been involved.

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Authors and Affiliations

1. Institut für Genetik, Heinrich Heine Universität Düsseldorf, Universitätsstrasse, 1, D-40225, Düsseldorf, Germany
   Manfred Steinemann & Sigrid Steinemann
2. Chromatin and Gene Expression Group, Department of Anatomy, University of Birmingham Medical School, B15 2TT, Birmingham, UK
   Bryan M. Turner

Authors

1. Manfred Steinemann
2. Sigrid Steinemann
3. Bryan M. Turner

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Correspondence toManfred Steinemann.

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accepted for publication by H. C. Macgregor

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Steinemann, M., Steinemann, S. & Turner, B.M. Evolution of dosage compensation.Chromosome Res 4, 185–190 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02254957

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• Received: 06 October 1995
• Revised: 21 November 1995
• Accepted: 24 November 1995
• Issue date: April 1996
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02254957

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