Extreme Y chromosome polymorphism corresponds to five extreme male reproductive morphs of a freshwater fish

Loss of recombination between sex chromosomes often depletes Y chromosomes of functional content and genetic variation, which might limit their potential to generate adaptive diversity. Males of the freshwater fish Poecilia parae occur as one of five discrete morphs, all of which shoal together in natural populations where morph frequency has been stable for over 50 years. Each morph utilizes a different complex reproductive strategy, and morphs differ dramatically in color, body size, and mating behavior. Morph phenotype is passed perfectly from father to son, indicating there are five Y haplotypes segregating in the species, which encode the complex male morph characteristics. Here, we examine Y diversity in natural populations of P. parae. Using linked-read sequencing on multiple P. parae females and males of all five morphs, we find that the genetic architecture of the male morphs evolved on the Y chromosome after recombination suppression had occurred with the X. Comparing Y chromosomes between each of the morphs, we show that although the Ys of the three minor morphs that differ in color are highly similar, there are substantial amounts of unique genetic material and divergence between the Ys of the three major morphs that differ in reproductive strategy, body size and mating behavior. Altogether, our results suggest that the Y chromosome is able to overcome the constraints of recombination loss to generate extreme diversity, resulting in five discrete Y chromosomes that control complex reproductive strategies.

Identifier
Source https://data.blue-cloud.org/search-details?step=~0127C756C6ECCE87F605524CEC56526BE0A7D03B740
Metadata Access https://data.blue-cloud.org/api/collections/7C756C6ECCE87F605524CEC56526BE0A7D03B740
Provenance
Instrument HiSeq X Five; ILLUMINA
Publisher Blue-Cloud Data Discovery & Access service; ELIXIR-ENA
Contributor University of British Columbia
Publication Year 2024
OpenAccess true
Contact blue-cloud-support(at)maris.nl
Representation
Discipline Marine Science
Spatial Coverage (-58.150W, 6.800S, -58.150E, 6.800N)
Temporal Point 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z