Identification of the sex chromosome system in a sand fly species, Lutzomyia longipalpis s.l.

Abstract

In many animal species, sex determination is accomplished by heterogamety i.e., one of the sexes produces two types of gametes, which upon fertilization will direct the development toward males or females. Both male (“XY”) and female (“ZW”) heterogamety are known to occur and can be easily distinguished when the sex-chromosomes are morphologically different. However, this approach fails in cases of homomorphic sex chromosomes, such as the sand fly Lutzomyia longipalpis s.l. (Psychodidae, Diptera), which is the main vector of visceral leishmaniosis in Brazil. In order to identify the heterogametic sex in L. longipalpis s.l., we did a whole-genome sequencing of males and females separately and used the “Y chromosome Genome Scan” (YGS) method to find sex-specific sequences. Our results, which were confirmed by PCR, show that L. longipalpis s.l. has XY system. The YGS method can be especially useful in situations in which no morphological difference is observed in the sex-chromosomes or when fresh specimens are not readily available.