Glancing through what has been accomplished in EGRU during the 2011, it struck me that not much attention has been given to a line of research that has emerging ‘in shadows’ during the past couple of years. Namely, although study of sexual size dimorphism, sex reversals and other issues related to differences between the two sexes have been in focus of great deal of past research in EGRU (e.g. Alho et al. 2010; Gienapp & Merilä 2010; Herczég et al. 2010; Leinonen et al. 2010; Li & Merilä 201a,b; Matsuba et al. 2010; Teplitsky et al. 2010), research with focus on sex chromosome differentiation and evolution in sticklebacks has also been building up during 2011.
In paper published in BMC Research Notes, Shikano et al. (2011a) introduced a useful tool for molecular sex-identification of ninespine sticklebacks. The sex-diagnostic locus has been already used in numerous published and as yet unpublished studies to identify the sex of individuals under study. In another paper, published in BMC Genomics, Shikano et al. (2011b) uncover large differences in patterns of sex chromosome differentiation between ninespine and threespine sticklebacks with aid of microsatellite markers spanning over the sex chromosomes of the two species. This line of research is now been followed up by Heini, and this explains also why the sequencers in our lab have so busy lately.
- Alho J., C. Matsuba & J. Merilä 2010. Sex reversal and primary sex ratios in the common frog (Rana temporaria). Molecular Ecology 19: 1763-1773. doi:10.1111/j.1365-294X.2010.04607.x News & Views
- Gienapp P. & J. Merilä 2010. Sex-specific fitness consequences of dispersal in Siberian jays. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 65: 131-140. doi:10.1007/s00265-010-1017-x
- Herczeg G., A. Gonda & J. Merilä 2010. Rensch’s rule inverted – female-driven gigantism in nine-spined stickleback Pungitius pungitius. Journal of Animal Ecology 79: 581-588. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2656.2010.01665.x
- Leinonen T., J. M. Cano & J. Merilä 2010. Genetic basis of sexual dimorphism in the threespine stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus. Heredity 106: 218-227. doi:10.1038/hdy.2010.104
- Li M.-H. & J. Merilä 2010a. Sex-specific population structure, natural selection, and linkage disequilibrium in a wild bird population as revealed by genome-wide microsatellite analyses. BMC Evolutionary Biology 10: 66. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-10-66 Editor’s Choice
- Li M-H. & J. Merilä 2010b. Avian Z-specific microsatellites map to pseudoautosomal or autosomal chromosomes in the Siberian jay (Perisoreus infaustus): insights into avian genome evolution from cross-species amplification tests. Journal of Genetics 89: 223-228. pdf
- Matsuba C., J. Alho & J. Merilä 2010. Recombination rate between sex chromosomes depends on phenotypic sex in the common frog. Evolution 64: 3634-3637. doi: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2010.01076.x
- Shikano T., G. Herczeg & J. Merilä 2011a. Molecular sexing and population genetic inference using a sex-linked microsatellite marker in the nine-spined stickleback (Pungitius pungitius). BMC Research Notes 4: 119. Open access
- Shikano T., H.M. Natri, Y. Shimada & J. Merilä 2011b. High degree of sex chromosome differentiation in stickleback fishes. BMC Genomics 12: 474. doi:10.1186/1471-2164-12-474
- Teplitsky C., J.A. Mills, J.W. Yarall & J. Merilä 2010. Indirect genetic effects in a sex limited trait: the case of breeding time in red-billed gulls. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 23: 935-944. doi:10.1111/j.1420-9101.2010.01959.x
