TY - JOUR
T1 - Mendelian nightmares: The germline-restricted chromosome of songbirds
AU - Borodin, Pavel
AU - Chen, Augustin
AU - Forstmeier, Wolfgang
AU - Fouché, Simone
AU - Malinovskaya, Lyubov
AU - Pei, Yifan
AU - Reifová, Radka
AU - Ruiz-Ruano, Francisco J.
AU - Schlebusch, Stephen A.
AU - Sotelo-Muñoz, Manuelita
AU - Torgasheva, Anna
AU - Vontzou, Niki
AU - Suh, Alexander
N1 - Funding Information: Open access funding provided by Uppsala University. This work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (20–64-46021) to P.B., L.M., F.J.R.-R., A.S., and A.T.; European Research Council (101002158 GermlineChrom) and Swedish Research Council Vetenskapsrådet (2020–04436) to A.S.; the Max Planck Society to W.F. and Y.P.; the Czech Science Foundation (20-23794S) to R.R.; Sven och Lilly Lawskis fond and the Swiss National Science Foundation (P2EZP3_199841) to S.F.; Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (875732) to F.J.R.-R.; the Grant Agency of Charles University (grant 1264120) to M.S.-M.; a PhD fellowship from University of East Anglia to N.V.; and an Erasmus + scholarship to A.C.
PY - 2022/9
Y1 - 2022/9
N2 - Germline-restricted chromosomes (GRCs) are accessory chromosomes that occur only in germ cells. They are eliminated from somatic cells through programmed DNA elimination during embryo development. GRCs have been observed in several unrelated animal taxa and show peculiar modes of non-Mendelian inheritance and within-individual elimination. Recent cytogenetic and phylogenomic evidence suggests that a GRC is present across the species-rich songbirds, but absent in non-passerine birds, implying that over half of all 10,500 bird species have extensive germline/soma genome differences. Here, we review recent insights gained from genomic, transcriptomic, and cytogenetic approaches with regard to the genetic content, phylogenetic distribution, and inheritance of the songbird GRC. While many questions remain unsolved in terms of GRC inheritance, elimination, and function, we discuss plausible scenarios and future directions for understanding this widespread form of programmed DNA elimination.
AB - Germline-restricted chromosomes (GRCs) are accessory chromosomes that occur only in germ cells. They are eliminated from somatic cells through programmed DNA elimination during embryo development. GRCs have been observed in several unrelated animal taxa and show peculiar modes of non-Mendelian inheritance and within-individual elimination. Recent cytogenetic and phylogenomic evidence suggests that a GRC is present across the species-rich songbirds, but absent in non-passerine birds, implying that over half of all 10,500 bird species have extensive germline/soma genome differences. Here, we review recent insights gained from genomic, transcriptomic, and cytogenetic approaches with regard to the genetic content, phylogenetic distribution, and inheritance of the songbird GRC. While many questions remain unsolved in terms of GRC inheritance, elimination, and function, we discuss plausible scenarios and future directions for understanding this widespread form of programmed DNA elimination.
KW - B chromosome
KW - Chromosome elimination
KW - Germline-restricted chromosome
KW - Germline/soma genome difference
KW - Non-Mendelian inheritance
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85128183138&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10577-022-09688-3
DO - 10.1007/s10577-022-09688-3
M3 - Article
SN - 0967-3849
VL - 30
SP - 255
EP - 272
JO - Chromosome Research
JF - Chromosome Research
IS - 2-3
ER -