ArticleMolecular biology and evolution2023
Mitonuclear Sex Determination? Empirical Evidence from Bivalves.
Article in Molecular biology and evolution, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 9 citations in OpenAlex.
- Sex chromosome identification and genome curation from a single individual with SCINKD.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- SmithRNAs: A Common Feature among Metazoa.Genome biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Demystifying the functions of the mitochondrial ORFan proteins in bivalves with doubly uniparental inheritance.Biology letters · 2025Article
- Mitonuclear compatibility is maintained despite relaxed selection on male mitochondrial DNA in bivalves with doubly uniparental inheritance.Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · 2024Article
- SmithHunter: a workflow for the identification of candidate smithRNAs and their targets.BMC bioinformatics · 2024Article
- Mitochondrion-to-nucleus communication mediated by RNA export: a survey of potential mechanisms and players across eukaryotes.Biology letters · 2024Review
- High heteroplasmy is associated with low mitochondrial copy number and selection against non-synonymous mutations in the snail Cepaea nemoralis.BMC genomics · 2024Article
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6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Genetic elements encoded in nuclear DNA determine the sex of an individual in many animals. In certain bivalve lineages that possess doubly uniparental inheritance (DUI), mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has been hypothesized to contribute to sex determination. In these cases, females transmit a female mtDNA to all offspring, while male mtDNA (M mtDNA) is transmitted only from fathers to sons. Because M mtDNA is inherited in the same way as Y chromosomes, it has been hypothesized that mtDNA may be responsible for sex determination. However, the role of mitochondrial and nuclear genes in sex determination has yet to be validated in DUI bivalves. In this study, we used DNA, RNA, and mitochondrial short noncoding RNA (sncRNA) sequencing to explore the role of mitochondrial and nuclear elements in the sexual development pathway of the freshwater mussel Potamilus streckersoni (Bivalvia: Unionida). We found that the M mtDNA sheds a sncRNA partially within a male-specific mitochondrial gene that targets a pathway hypothesized to be involved in female development and mitophagy. RNA-seq confirmed the gene target was significantly upregulated in females, supporting a direct role of mitochondrial sncRNAs in gene silencing. These findings support the hypothesis that M mtDNA inhibits female development. Genome-wide patterns of genetic differentiation and heterozygosity did not support a nuclear sex-determining region, although we cannot reject that nuclear factors are involved with sex determination. Our results provide further evidence that mitochondrial loci contribute to diverse, nonrespiratory functions and additional insights into an unorthodox sex-determining system.
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