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Inversions are bigger on the X chromosome
Author(s) -
Cheng Changde,
Kirkpatrick Mark
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
molecular ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.619
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1365-294X
pISSN - 0962-1083
DOI - 10.1111/mec.14819
Subject(s) - biology , fixation (population genetics) , genetics , gene , chromosomal inversion , evolutionary biology , population , chromosome , karyotype , demography , sociology
In many insects, X‐linked inversions fix at a higher rate and are much less polymorphic than autosomal inversions. Here, we report that in Drosophila , X‐linked inversions also capture 67% more genes. We estimated the number of genes captured through an approximate Bayesian computational analysis of gene orders in nine species of Drosophila . X‐linked inversions fixed with a significantly larger gene content. Further, X‐linked inversions of intermediate size enjoy highest fixation rate, while the fixation rate of autosomal inversions decreases with size. A less detailed analysis in Anopheles suggests a similar pattern holds in mosquitoes. We develop a population genetic model that assumes the fitness effects of inversions scale with the number of genes captured. We show that the same conditions that lead to a higher fixation rate also produce a larger size for inversions on the X.