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Lack of age-related mosaic loss of W chromosome in long-lived birds.

Nancy TrujilloMónica Leticia Martínez-PachecoCecilia SoldatiniSergio AnconaRebecca C YoungYuri V Albores-BarajasAlberto H OrtaCristina RodríguezTomás SzékelyHugh DrummondArraxi O UrrutiaDiego Cortez
Published in: Biology letters (2022)
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.
Keyphrases
  • copy number
  • mitochondrial dna
  • genome wide
  • dna methylation
  • endothelial cells
  • gene expression
  • single cell
  • dna damage
  • free survival
  • induced pluripotent stem cells
  • young adults