ArticleCurrent biology : CB2016
Divergence and Functional Degradation of a Sex Chromosome-like Supergene.
Article in Current biology : CB, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 149 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
149 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 389 citations in OpenAlex.
- Multivariate Models of Animal Sex: Breaking Binaries Leads to a Better Understanding of Ecology and Evolution.Integrative and comparative biology · 2023Pooled it
- Independent Major-Effect Loci and Limited Trait Associations Characterize Warning Colour Variation Across Sexes and Life Stages in the Wood Tiger Moth (Arctia plantaginis).Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- Ancient inversion polymorphisms are locally adaptive in a widespread butterfly species.Science advances · 2026Article
- Molecular Evolution of a Sex-Linked Inversion Polymorphism in Zebra Finches.Genome biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Multiple Origins of a Sex Ratio Supergene in Formica Ants.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Ancient but dynamic: structural expansion, massive gene duplication, and transposable element colonization in a supergene controlling ant social organization.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Hypotheses for the Adaptive Maintenance of Phenotypic Polymorphisms.Ecology and evolution · 2026Review
- Opposing behavioral roles for a single gene in a species with a supergene polymorphism.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- A century of theories of balancing selection.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2026Review
- Parallel clines of chromosomal inversion frequencies in seaweed flies are associated with thermal variation.Heredity · 2026Article
- Early life exploration behaviour and life-history loci are colocalized in an adaptive genomic hotspot in Atlantic salmon.The Journal of animal ecology · 2026Article
- Article
- Massive Genomic and Transcriptomic Changes Within a Young Inversion Polymorphism in the Absence of Degeneration.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- Navigating the Semantic Labyrinth of "Sex" in the Study of Reproductive Trait Evolution.Integrative and comparative biology · 2026Article
- Sexes Are Polymorphisms: Describing and Understanding Sexual Diversity as Phenotypic Variation.Integrative and comparative biology · 2026Review
- Cosmopolitan inversions have a major impact on trait variation and the power of different GWAS approaches to identify associations.PLoS genetics · 2026Article
- Article
- Evolution of Large Polymorphic Inversions in a Panmictic Songbird.Molecular biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Large Inversion Polymorphisms are Widespread in North American Songbirds.Genome biology and evolution · 2025Article
- A Novel Supergene Controls Queen Size and Colony Social Organization in the Ant Myrmica ruginodis.Molecular biology and evolution · 2025Article
89 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
12 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
A major challenge in biology is to understand the genetic basis of adaptation. One compelling idea is that groups of tightly linked genes (i.e., "supergenes" [1, 2]) facilitate adaptation in suites of traits that determine fitness. Despite their likely importance, little is known about how alternate supergene alleles arise and become differentiated, nor their ultimate fate within species. Herein we address these questions by investigating the evolutionary history of a supergene in white-throated sparrows, Zonotrichia albicollis. This species comprises two morphs, tan and white, that differ in pigmentation and components of social behavior [3-5]. Morph is determined by alternative alleles at a balanced >100-Mb inversion-based supergene, providing a unique system for studying gene-behavior relationships. Using over two decades of field data, we document near-perfect disassortative mating among morphs, as well as the fitness consequences of rare assortative mating. We use de novo whole-genome sequencing coupled with population- and phylogenomic data to show that alternate supergene alleles are highly divergent at over 1,000 genes and that these alleles originated prior to the split of Z. albicollis from its sister species and may be polymorphic in Z. albicollis due to a past hybridization event. We provide evidence that the "white" allele may be degrading, similar to neo-Y/W sex chromosomes. We further show that the "tan" allele has surprisingly low levels of genetic diversity yet does not show several canonical signatures of recurrent positive selection. We discuss these results in the context of the origin, molecular evolution, and possible fate of this remarkable polymorphism.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.