Category: Sex chromosome-like supergene
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Divergence and functional degradation of a sex chromosome-like supergene (the sparrow with four sexes)
In January 2016, when the paper was published in Current Biology, it showed unequivocally that chromosome 2 was evolving like a sex chromosome. White–white and tan–tan matings were exceedingly rare. Using the whole-genome sequences of 50 birds, the team demonstrated that the genes in the inversion were acquiring mutations much more quickly than elsewhere in the…