10.5061/DRYAD.DBRV15DXK
Sigeman, Hanna
0000-0002-1457-4174
Lund University
Ponnikas, Suvi
0000-0003-3526-2118
Lund University
Hansson, Bengt
0000-0001-6694-8169
Lund University
Whole-genome analysis across ten songbird families within Sylvioidea
reveals a novel autosome–sex chromosome fusion
Dryad
dataset
2020
sex chromosome
autosome-sex chromosome fusion
Sylvioidea
Swedish Research Council
https://ror.org/03zttf063
621-2016-689
2020-03-31T00:00:00Z
2020-03-31T00:00:00Z
en
17030597 bytes
4
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Sex chromosomes in birds have long been considered to be extremely stable.
However, this notion has lately been challenged by findings of independent
autosome–sex chromosome fusions within songbirds, several of which occur
within a single clade, the superfamily Sylvioidea. To understand what
ecological and evolutionary processes drive changes in sex chromosome
systems, we need complete descriptions of sex chromosome diversity across
taxonomic groups. Here, we characterize the sex chromosome systems across
Sylvioidea using whole-genome data of species-representatives of ten
different families, including two published and eight new genomes. We
describe a novel fusion in the family Cisticolidae (represented by
Cisticola juncidis) involving a part of chromosome 4. We also confirm the
previously identified fusion between chromosome Z and a part of chromosome
4A in all ten families and show that fusions involving parts of chromosome
3 and 5 are not found outside the families where they were first
discovered (Alaudidae and Panuridae). These findings add to the complexity
of the sex chromosome system in Sylvioidea, where four independent
autosome–sex chromosome fusions have now been identified.