Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Evolutionary biology

Chromosome chain makes a link

Nature volume 432, pages 817–818 (2004)Cite this article

The platypus' sex chromosomes are as peculiar as its appearance. Five X and five Y chromosomes form a remarkable chain-like configuration in male reproductive cells that ensures appropriate sperm formation.

An Australian Aboriginal legend proposes that the platypus is the offspring of a duck and a water-rat, with a duck-like bill and webbed toes, but four feet and fur like a rat. However, despite some avian and reptilian features, phylogenetic studies classify the platypus as a monotreme, an egg-laying mammal. Monotremes diverged from the rest of the mammalian lineage some 210 million years ago1, and examining them not only gives a unique evolutionary perspective to biological processes specific to mammals, but also provides links to more distant animals, such as birds.

Your institute does not have access to this article

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

Figure 1: Comparison of sex chromosomes.

References

  1. Grützner, F. & Marshall Graves, J. A., Curr. Opin. Genet. Dev. 14, 642–649 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Grützner, F. et al. Nature 432, 913–917 (2004).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Rens, W. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 101, 16257–16261 (2004).

    CAS  Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Koopman, P., Gubbay, J., Vivian, N., Goodfellow, P. & Lovell-Badge, R. Nature 351, 117–121 (1991).

    CAS  Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Fridolfsson, A. K. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 95, 8147–8152 (1998).

    CAS  Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Smith, C. A. & Sinclair, A. H. BioEssays 26, 120–132 (2004).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Hejnowicz, Z. & Feldman, L. J. Chromosome Res. 8, 165–172 (2000).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Syren, R. M. & Luykx, P. Nature 266, 167–168 (1977).

    CAS  Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Ohno, S. Sex Chromosomes and Sex-Linked Genes (Springer, Berlin, 1967).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  10. Watson, J. M., Spencer, J. A., Riggs, A. D. & Graves, J. A. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 88, 11256–11260 (1991).

    CAS  Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Just, W. et al. Nature Genet. 11, 117–118 (1995).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Mail Code H171, Hershey, 17033, Pennsylvania, USA

    Laura Carrel

Authors
  1. Laura Carrel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Carrel, L. Chromosome chain makes a link. Nature 432, 817–818 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/432817a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/432817a

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing