Dosage compensation, the process whereby expression of sex-linked genes remains similar between sexes (despite heterogamety) and balanced with autosomal expression, was long believed to be essential. However, recent research has shown that several lineages, including birds, butterflies, monotremes and sticklebacks, lack chromosome-wide dosage compensation mechanisms and do not completely balanc...

Theory makes several predictions concerning differences in genetic variation between the X chromosome and the autosomes due to male X hemizygosity. The X chromosome should: (i) typically show relatively less standing genetic variation than the autosomes, (ii) exhibit more variation in males compared to females because of dosage compensation, and (iii) potentially be enriched with sex-specific g...

Recent evolution of separate sexes in flowering plants provides unparalleled opportunities for understanding the early stages of sex chromosome evolution, including their origin from autosomes. Moreover, the transition from combined to separate sexes can be associated with speciation via polyploidization in angiosperms, suggesting that genome doubling/merger may facilitate sterility mutations r...

Sex chromosomes evolve differently from autosomes because natural selection acts distinctly on them given their reduced recombination and smaller population size. Various studies of sex-linked genes compared with different autosomal genes within species support these predictions. Here, we take a novel alternative approach by comparing the rate of evolution between subsets of genes that are sex-...

Using cline fitting and divergence population genetics, we tested a prediction of Haldane's rule: autosomal alleles should introgress more than z-linked alleles or mitochondrial haplotypes across the Passerina amoena/Passerina cyanea (Aves: Cardinalidae) hybrid zone. We screened 222 individuals collected along a transect in the Great Plains of North America that spans the contact zone for mitoc...

Previous studies have shown that the chloride channel gene Clc4 is X-linked and subject to X inactivation in Mus spretus, but that the same gene is autosomal in laboratory strains of mice. This exception to the conservation of linkage of the X chromosome in one of two interfertile mouse species was exploited to compare expression of Clc4 from the X chromosome to that from the autosome. Clc4 was...

We present a general model for the effect of sex linkage on the evolution of reinforcement of mating preferences on an island. We find that the level of reinforcement can vary up to 80% depending on the mode of inheritance of the female preference and male trait. When reinforcement is driven mainly by selection in the male trait and intrinsic hybrid incompatibilities are weak, sex-linked prefer...

Sex chromosomes evolve differently from autosomes because natural selection acts distinctly on them given their reduced recombination and smaller population size. Various studies of sex-linked genes compared with different autosomal genes within species support these predictions. Here, we take a novel alternative approach by comparing the rate of evolution between subsets of genes that are sex-...