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Slide Preparation Method to Preserve Three-dimensional Chromatin Architecture of Testicular Germ Cells
Published on: January 10, 2014
Sex-limited chromosomes and non-reproductive traits
Aivars Cīrulis1, Bengt Hansson2, Jessica K Abbott3
1Department of Biology, Lund University, 223 62, Lund, Sweden. aivars.cirulis@biol.lu.se.
Abstract:
Sex chromosomes are typically viewed as having originated from a pair of autosomes, and differentiated as the sex-limited chromosome (e.g. Y) has degenerated by losing most genes through cessation of recombination. While often thought that degenerated sex-limited chromosomes primarily affect traits involved in sex determination and sex cell production, accumulating evidence suggests they also influence traits not sex-limited or directly involved in reproduction. Here, we provide an overview of the effects of sex-limited chromosomes on non-reproductive traits in XY, ZW or UV sex determination systems, and discuss evolutionary processes maintaining variation at sex-limited chromosomes and molecular mechanisms affecting non-reproductive traits.
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