Genomic predisposition is associated with the direction of sex chromosome evolution
Sex chromosome evolution is among the most dynamic genomic innovations in vertebrates, yet why some lineages evolve XY while others evolve ZW remains unclear. Using chromosome-level genomes from 19 geckos, we found that gecko sex chromosomes originated independently from 16 ancestral chromosomes. Their origins are nonrandom in both time and direction. Five of 11 datable origins coincide near the Middle Miocene Climatic Transition (~10 million years ago). Ancestral gene content is associated with the direction of evolution, with testis-enriched regions tending to evolve into ZW and testis-depleted regions into XY, a pattern observed across multiple amniote sex chromosome origins. Geckos with genetic sex determination repeatedly evolve partial dosage balance through up-regulation in the heterogametic sex. Sex chromosome evolution thus follows constraints from ancestral genomic predisposition and environmental context.
Authors
- Stuart V. Nielsen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3114-1469)
- Jiazheng Jin
- Yang Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1247-5049)
- Erez Lieberman Aiden (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0634-6486)
- Tony Gamble (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0204-8003)
- Arthur Georges (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2428-0361)
- Olga Dudchenko (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9163-9544)
- Aaron H. Griffing (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8441-1330)
- Yun Xia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3039-0527)
- Arina D. Omer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1336-2505)
- Zhangyue Song
- Zexian Zhu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3788-368X)
- Chuan Jiang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-5563-162X)
- David Weisz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5868-6672)
- Zane Colaric (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6275-9616)
- Qi Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7419-2047)
- Guojie Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6860-1521)
- Brendan J. Pinto (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4243-5788)
- Ruqayya Khan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7549-8761)
- Peng Shi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4075-4902)
- Tariq Ezaz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4763-1347)
- Xiaosong Gu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2562-6275)
- Yan Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1378-1825)
- Xuemei Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5391-8403)
- Li Han (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9013-8414)
- Zhenzhen Song (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-8533-7407)
- Lichun Jiang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6217-8109)
- Yin Qi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0973-2307)
- Ian Brennan
- yudian peng
- Zhengqing Cao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-5995-5374)
- Wanyi Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-7164-1640)
Institutions
- BGI Group (China) (CN)
- Marquette University (US)
- Zhejiang Chinese Medical University (CN)
- Australian National University (AU)
- Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (RU)
- University of Minnesota (US)
- Milwaukee Public Museum (US)
- Sun Yat-sen University (CN)
- Shenzhen University (CN)
- Kunming Institute of Zoology (CN)
- South China Normal University (CN)
- University of Canberra (AU)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Nantong University (CN)
- Princeton University (US)
- Louisiana State University in Shreveport (US)
- ShanghaiTech University (CN)
- Northwest University (CN)
- The Seventh Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University (CN)
- Women's Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University (CN)
- Center for Theoretical Biological Physics (US)
- Chengdu Institute of Biology (CN)
- Baylor Genetics (US)
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- BGI Research (CN)
- Hunan Agricultural University (CN)
- The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (US)
- Arizona State University (US)
- Rice University (US)
- Zhejiang University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Science
- Published
- 2026-08-27
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aec3449
- Primary Topic
- Genetic and Clinical Aspects of Sex Determination and Chromosomal Abnormalities
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Welch Foundation
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China
- Division of Environmental Biology