Paper: Comparative analysis of chimpanzee and human Y chromosomes unveils complex evolutionary pathway

Nature Genetics 38, 158 - 167 (2006)
Published online: 1 January 2006; | doi:10.1038/ng1729

Comparative analysis of chimpanzee and human Y chromosomes unveils complex
evolutionary pathway

Yoko Kuroki, Atsushi Toyoda, Hideki Noguchi, Todd D Taylor, Takehiko Itoh,
Dae-Soo Kim, Dae-Won Kim, Sang-Haeng Choi, Il-Chul Kim, Han Ho Choi, Yong
Sung Kim, Yoko Satta, Naruya Saitou, Tomoyuki Yamada, Shinichi Morishita,
Masahira Hattori, Yoshiyuki Sakaki, Hong-Seog Park & Asao Fujiyama

The mammalian Y chromosome has unique characteristics compared with the
autosomes or X chromosomes. Here we report the finished sequence of the
chimpanzee Y chromosome (PTRY), including 271 kb of the Y-specific
pseudoautosomal region 1 and 12.7 Mb of the male-specific region of the Y
chromosome. Greater sequence divergence between the human Y chromosome
(HSAY) and PTRY (1.78%) than between their respective whole genomes (1.23%)
confirmed the accelerated evolutionary rate of the Y chromosome. Each of the
19 PTRY protein-coding genes analyzed had at least one nonsynonymous
substitution, and 11 genes had higher nonsynonymous substitution rates than
synonymous ones, suggesting relaxation of selective constraint, positive
selection or both. We also identified lineage-specific changes, including
deletion of a 200-kb fragment from the pericentromeric region of HSAY,
expansion of young Alu families in HSAY and accumulation of young L1
elements and long terminal repeat retrotransposons in PTRY. Reconstruction
of the common ancestral Y chromosome reflects the dynamic changes in our
genomes in the 5-6 million years since speciation.

Abstract and Full Text Links at Nature Genetics
http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/v38/n2/abs/ng1729.html

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek


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