Evolution of an unstable sex determination system in white Guinea yam (Dioscorea rotundata)

Abstract

Plants often produce unstable sex phenotypes; however, the underlying evolutionary and molecular mechanisms are unclear. In white Guinea yam (Dioscorea rotundata), the most economically important tuber crop, genetic improvement is critical for food security but remains constrained by dioecy and complex sex phenotypes. White Guinea yam has a ZZ/ZW sex determination system in which ZZ individuals are consistently male, whereas ZW individuals can be female, male, or monoecious. Here we show that chromosome 11 is the sex chromosome, featuring a 1.2-Mb inversion between the Z and W chromosomes. A 170-kb W-specific region carries the microRNA gene dro-MIR432, likely involved in sex switching. The recent emergence of this miRNA-mediated ZZ/ZW system, distinct from the XY/XX system within Dioscorea, underscores the dynamic evolution of plant sex determination.

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BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@misc{kudoh2026evolution,
  title = {{Evolution of an unstable sex determination system in white Guinea yam (Dioscorea rotundata)}},
  author = {A. Kudoh and Y. Sugihara and K. Iseki and R. Matsumoto and K. Minoji and K. Onai and A. Abe and S. Natsume and T. Sakai and K. Oikawa and M. Shimizu and K. Itoh and H. Adachi and K. Honda and S. Yamanaka and P. A. Agre and P. Adebola and A. Asfaw and R. Terauchi},
  howpublished = {bioRxiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.64898/2026.09.08.750133},
  url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.08.750133v1},
  note = {CC BY},
}

RIS

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Evolution of an unstable sex determination system in white Guinea yam (Dioscorea rotundata)
AU  - A. Kudoh
AU  - Y. Sugihara
AU  - K. Iseki
AU  - R. Matsumoto
AU  - K. Minoji
AU  - K. Onai
AU  - A. Abe
AU  - S. Natsume
AU  - T. Sakai
AU  - K. Oikawa
AU  - M. Shimizu
AU  - K. Itoh
AU  - H. Adachi
AU  - K. Honda
AU  - S. Yamanaka
AU  - P. A. Agre
AU  - P. Adebola
AU  - A. Asfaw
AU  - R. Terauchi
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/08
PB  - bioRxiv
DO  - 10.64898/2026.09.08.750133
UR  - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.08.750133v1
AB  - Plants often produce unstable sex phenotypes; however, the underlying evolutionary and molecular mechanisms are unclear. In white Guinea yam (Dioscorea rotundata), the most economically important tuber crop, genetic improvement is critical for food security but remains constrained by dioecy and complex sex phenotypes. White Guinea yam has a ZZ/ZW sex determination system in which ZZ individuals are consistently male, whereas ZW individuals can be female, male, or monoecious. Here we show that chromosome 11 is the sex chromosome, featuring a 1.2-Mb inversion between the Z and W chromosomes. A 170-kb W-specific region carries the microRNA gene dro-MIR432, likely involved in sex switching. The recent emergence of this miRNA-mediated ZZ/ZW system, distinct from the XY/XX system within Dioscorea, underscores the dynamic evolution of plant sex determination.
ER  -

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