Sex chromosomes and sex determination in Platyrrhini

M.D. MUDRY,; STEINBERG, E.R.;

Phylogeny, Molecular Population Genetics, Evolutionary Biology and Conservation of the Neotropical Primates

M Nova Science Publisher

Lugar: Nueva York; Año: 2016; p. 269 - 286

In the order Primates the most widespread sex chromosome system is the XX/XY. The X chromosome is highly conserved both at a structural as well as at gene level. By contrast, the Y chromosome shows a wide spectrum of morphological and genetic species-specific divergence. In Platyrrhini modifications of this ancestral XX/XY sexual system were observed. Multiple sex chromosome systems have been described in different genera of neotropical primates, originated from Y-autosome translocations. Other features that makes the Y chromosome of neotropical primates different from the human Y chromosome is the absence of chromosomal homeology between them and the different meiotic behavior when compared to the human Y. These differences in the Y chromosomes can also be observed at the molecular genetic level. The presence of the gene homeologous to human SRY was detected, showing species-specific sizes for the SRY HMG box sequence, both in Platyrrhini and Catarrhini. However, the regions adjacent to the human SRY gene are not conserved in neotropical primates, in contrast with the conservation observed in old world primates. All these findings show a differential evolutionary history of the Platyrrhine Y chromosome compared to the Catarrhine Y one, both at genic and chromosome level.