Ancestral and neo-sex chromosomes contribute to population divergence in a dioecious plant

Abstract

Empirical evidence from several animal groups suggests that sex chromosomes may disproportionately contribute to reproductive isolation. This occurs particularly when sex chromosomes are associated with turnover of sex determination systems resulting from structural rearrangements to the sex chromosomes. We investigated these predictions in the dioecious plant Rumex hastatulus, which is comprised of populations of two sex chromosome cytotypes. Using population genomic analyses, we investigated the demographic history of R. hastatulus and explored the contributions of ancestral and neo-sex chromosomes to population genetic divergence. Our study revealed that the cytotypes represented genetically divergent populations with evidence for historical but not contemporary gene flow between them. In agreement with classical predictions, we found that the ancestral X chromosome was disproportionately divergent compared with the rest of the genome. Excess differentiation was also observed on the Y chromosome, even when using measures of differentiation that control for differences in effective population size. Our estimates of the timing of the origin of the neo-sex chromosomes in R. hastatulus are coincident with cessation of gene flow, suggesting that the chromosomal fusion event that gave rise to the origin of the XYY cytotype may have also been a key driver of reproductive isolation.