Abstract
The determination of sex in salmonid fishes is controlled by genetic mechanisms, with males being the heterogametic sex. The master sex-determining gene, the sexually dimorphic gene on the Y chromosome (sdY), is a conserved gene across various salmonid species. Nevertheless, variations in the genomic location of sdY have been observed both within and between species. Furthermore, different studies have reported discordances in the association between the sdY and the phenotypic gender. While some males seem to lack this locus, there have been reports of females carrying sdY. Although the exact reasons behind this discordance remain under investigation, some recent studies have proposed the existence of an autosomal, non-functional copy of sdY as a potential cause. In this study, we confirmed the presence of this autosomal sdY in the SalmoBreed strain of Atlantic salmon using a genoty** platform through a novel approach that allows for high-throughput screening of a large number of individuals. We further characterized the segregation profile of this locus across families and found the ratio of genetically assigned female-to-male progeny to be in accordance with the expected profile of a single autosomal sdY locus. Additionally, our map** efforts localized this locus to chromosome 3 and suggested a putative copy on chromosome 6.
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Data Availability
Access to the raw genotype data cannot be granted publicly as it is proprietary information of a commercial entity. Inquiries for obtaining the raw genotype data should be directed towards the corresponding author.
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The experiment was designed and conceptualized by all authors. Data collection was supervised and coordinated by Ingunn Thorland, Carlos Lozano, Brede Fanneme and Borghild Hillestad. Arrangement for SNP genoty** was carried out by Brede Fanneme and Borghild Hillestad. Bioinformatics and genomics analysis were performed by Hooman Moghadam, who also drafted the initial version of the manuscript. All authors contributed to the interpretation of the data and to the development of the paper.
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Moghadam, H.K., Fannemel, B., Thorland, I. et al. Identification and Genomic Localization of Autosomal sdY Locus in a Population of Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar). Mar Biotechnol 25, 438–446 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10126-023-10217-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10126-023-10217-4