Open AccessLack of age-related mosaic loss of W chromosome in long-lived birds
Author(s) -
Nancy Trujillo,
Mónica Martínez-Pacheco,
Cecilia Soldatini,
Sergio Ancona,
Rebecca C. Young,
Yuri V. AlboresBarajas,
Alberto H. Orta,
Cristina Rodrı́guez,
Tamás Székely,
Hugh Drummond,
Araxi O. Urrutia,
Diego Cortez
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
biology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.596
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1744-957X
pISSN - 1744-9561
DOI - 10.1098/rsbl.2021.0553
Subject(s) - biology , chromosome , ageing , genetics , autosome , chromosome 21 , x chromosome , y chromosome , senescence , evolutionary biology , gene , zoology
Females and males often exhibit different survival in nature, and it has been hypothesized that sex chromosomes may play a role in driving differential survival rates. For instance, the Y chromosome in mammals and the W chromosome in birds are often degenerated, with reduced numbers of genes, and loss of the Y chromosome in old men is associated with shorter life expectancy. However, mosaic loss of sex chromosomes has not been investigated in any non-human species. Here, we tested whether mosaic loss of the W chromosome (LOW) occurs with ageing in wild birds as a natural consequence of cellular senescence. Using loci-specific PCR and a target sequencing approach we estimated LOW in both young and adult individuals of two long-lived bird species and showed that the copy number of W chromosomes remains constant across age groups. Our results suggest that LOW is not a consequence of cellular ageing in birds. We concluded that the inheritance of the W chromosome in birds, unlike the Y chromosome in mammals, is more stable.