10.5061/DRYAD.8931ZCRQ5
Hendrickx, Frederik
0000-0002-1176-0318
Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
De Corte, Zoë
Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
Sonet, Gontran
Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
Van Belleghem, Steven M
University of Puerto Rico System
Köstlbacher, Stephan
University of Vienna
Vangestel, Carl
Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
A masculinizing supergene underlies an exaggerated male reproductive morph
in a spider
Dryad
dataset
2021
Evolution
Research Foundation - Flanders
https://ror.org/03qtxy027
(1527617N
2021-11-09T00:00:00Z
2021-11-09T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.02.09.430505
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5654479
3195793324 bytes
6
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
In many species, individuals can develop into strikingly different morphs,
which are determined by a simple Mendelian locus. How selection shapes
loci that control complex p henotypic differences remains poorly
understood. In the spider gibbosus, males either develop into a
‘hunched’morph with conspicuous head structures or as a fast developing
‘flat’morph with a female- like appearance. We show that the hunched
differs from the f lat-determinin g allele by a hunch-specific genomic
fragment of approximately 3 megabases. This fragment comprises dozens of
genes that duplicated from genes found at different chromosomes. All
functional duplicates, including doublesex- a key sexual differentiation
regulatory gene, show male-specific expression, which il lustrates their
combined role as a masculinizing supergene. Our findings demonstrate how
extensive indel polymorphisms and duplications of regulatory genes may
contribute to t he evolution of co-adapted gene clusters, sex-limi ted
reproductive morphs, and the enigmatic evolution of exaggerated sexual
traits in general.