Evolutionary studies on the origin of male and female, based on the analyses of sex-chromosomal regions

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Because how femaleness and maleness evolved from the primitive isogamous organisms (with equal-sized gametes) was unclear, we carried out the comparative genome analyses of the primitive sex chromosome or mating locus (MTs) of the colonial Volvoclaes representing a model lineage of sex evolution. We resolved genome sequence of MT from sexually dimorphic multicellular green alga Volvox carteri that exhibits the production of eggs and sperm. The V. carteri MT has five new female-limited genes and ten male-limited genes. These firstly suggested that origins of femaleness and maleness are principally affected by the evolution of the MT that has undergone gain of new male- and female-limited genes.