Spermatocytes from A. rhodensis dividing to form an X-bearing functional sperm (red – MSP) and a residual body with the other DNA complement (green -tubulin)
Evo/Cell: Cellular insights from comparative studies of other nematode species
Grounded by our understanding of C. elegans spermatogenesis, we have begun examining the program of spermatogenesis in other nematode species. The goal of this comparative evolutionary approach is to both identify core elements that have been conserved across wide evolutionary distances as well as the many “variations on a theme” that expand our notions of what is possible with a similar “genetic toolbox”. For example, in a collaboration with the Pires daSilva group (University of Warwick), we’ve been studying how modification to the program of spermatogenesis (and oogenesis) enable males Auanema rhodensis to produce exclusively 1X sperm while hermaphrodites produce 2X sperm and 0X oocytes! We are now exploring the cellular mechanisms that underlie this example of non-Mendelian chromosome segregation and studying related species to determine how these modifications may have evolved.
- Al-Yazeedi T, ^Xu EL*, Kaur J, Shakes DC, Pires-daSilva A (2022) Lagging X chromatids specify the orientation of asymmetric organelle partitioning in XX spermatocytes of Auanema rhodensis. Genetics. doi:10.1093/genetics/iyac159
- Van Goor J, Shakes DC, Haag ES. Fisher vs. the Worms: Extraordinary Sex Ratios in Nematodes and the Mechanisms that Produce Them. Cells. 2021 Jul 15;10(7):1793. doi: 10.3390/cells10071793.
- Tandonnet S, Farrell MC, Koutsovoulos GD, Blaxter ML, Parihar M, Sadler PL, Shakes DC, Pires-daSilva A. Sex- and Gamete-Specific Patterns of X Chromosome Segregation in a Trioecious Nematode. Curr Biol. 2018 Jan 8;28(1):93-99.e3.
- McCaig CM, Lin X, Farrell M, Rehain-Bell K, Shakes DC. Germ cell cysts and simultaneous sperm and oocyte production in a hermaphroditic nematode. Dev Biol. 2017 Oct 15;430(2):362-373.
- Shakes DC, Neva BJ, Huynh H, Chaudhuri J, Pires-Dasilva A. Asymmetric spermatocyte division as a mechanism for controlling sex ratios. Nat Commun. 2011 Jan 18;2:157.
