Data from: The contribution of female meiotic drive to the evolution of neo-sex chromosomes

Sex chromosomes undergo rapid turnover in certain taxonomic groups. One of the mechanisms of sex chromosome turnover involves fusions between sex chromosomes and autosomes. Sexual antagonism, heterozygote advantage, and genetic drift have been proposed as the drivers for the fixation of this evolutionary event. However, all empirical patterns of the prevalence of multiple sex chromosome systems across different taxa cannot be simply explained by these three mechanisms. In this study, we propose that female meiotic drive may contribute to the evolution of neo-sex chromosomes. The results of this study showed that in mammals, the XY1Y2 sex chromosome system is more prevalent in species with karyotypes of more bi-armed chromosomes, whereas the X1X2Y sex chromosome system is more prevalent in species with predominantly acrocentric chromosomes. In species where bi-armed chromosomes are favored by female meiotic drive, X-autosome fusions (XY1Y2 sex chromosome system) will be also favored by female meiotic drive. In contrast, in species with more acrocentric chromosomes, Y-autosome fusions (X1X2Y sex chromosome system) will be favored just because of the biased mutation rate towards chromosomal fusions. Further consideration should be given to female meiotic drive as a mechanism in the fixation of neo-sex chromosomes.性染色体在部分类群中会发生快速更替。性染色体更替的一类机制，涉及性染色体与常染色体之间的融合事件。性拮抗、杂合优势与遗传漂变，曾被提出为该演化事件固定化的驱动因素。然而，不同类群中多重性染色体系统分布频率的所有经验模式，无法仅凭这三种机制得到简单解释。本研究提出，雌性减数分裂驱动（female meiotic drive）或可促进新性染色体的演化。本研究结果显示，在哺乳类中，XY₁Y₂型性染色体系统在拥有更多双臂染色体核型的物种中更为常见；而X₁X₂Y型性染色体系统则主要在以近端着丝粒染色体为主的物种中占优。在雌性减数分裂驱动更青睐双臂染色体的物种中，X染色体-常染色体融合（XY₁Y₂型性染色体系统）同样会受到雌性减数分裂驱动的青睐。与之相反，在以近端着丝粒染色体为主的物种中，Y染色体-常染色体融合（X₁X₂Y型性染色体系统）之所以受到青睐，仅归因于染色体融合方向的偏倚突变率。未来应将雌性减数分裂驱动作为新性染色体固定的机制之一，予以更多关注。