A new approach for comprehensively describing heterogametic sex chromosomes

• Published in: DNA research Vol. 25; no. 4; pp. 375 - 382
• Main Authors: Li, Shenglong, Ajimura, Masahiro, Chen, Zhiwei, Liu, Jianqiu, Chen, Enxiang, Guo, Huizhen, Tadapatri, Vidya, Reddy, Chilakala Gangi, Zhang, Jiwei, Kishino, Hirohisa, Abe, Hiroaki, Xia, Qingyou, Arunkumar, Kallare P, Mita, Kazuei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Oxford University Press 01.08.2018
• Subjects: heterogametic sex chromosome; silkworm; non-coding RNA
• ISSN: 1340-2838; 1756-1663
• DOI: 10.1093/dnares/dsy010

Abstract Notwithstanding the rapid developments in sequencing techniques, Y and W sex chromosomes have still been mostly excluded from whole genome sequencing projects due to their high repetitive DNA content. Therefore, Y and W chromosomes are poorly described in most species despite their biological importance. Several methods were developed for identifying Y or W-linked sequences among unmapped scaffolds. However, it is not enough to discover functional regions from short unmapped scaffolds. Here, we provide a new and simple strategy based on k-mer comparison for comprehensive analysis of the W chromosome in Bombyx mori. Using this novel method, we effectively assembled de novo 1281 W-derived genome contigs (totaling 1.9 Mbp), and identified 156 W-linked transcript RNAs and 345 W-linked small RNAs. This method will help in the elucidation of mechanisms of sexual development and exploration of W chromosome biological functions, and provide insights into the evolution of sex chromosomes. Moreover, we showed this method can be employed in identifying heterogametic sex chromosomes (W and Y chromosomes) in many other species where genomic information is still scarce.