The XO sex-determination system (sometimes referred to as X0 sex-determination system) is a system that some species of insects, arachnids, and mammals use to determine the sex of offspring. In this system, there is only one sex chromosome, referred to as X. Males only have one X chromosome (XO), while females have two (XX). The letter O (sometimes a zero) signifies the lack of a Y chromosome.[1] Maternal gametes always contain an X chromosome, so the sex of the animals' offspring depends on whether a sex chromosome is present in the male gamete. Its sperm normally contains either one X chromosome or no sex chromosomes at all.
This system determines the sex of offspring among:
In a variant of this system, most individuals have two sex chromosomes (XX) and are hermaphroditic, producing both eggs and sperm with which they can fertilize themselves, while rare individuals are male and have only one sex chromosome (XO). The model organismCaenorhabditis elegans—a nematode frequently used in biological research—is one such organism.
Most spiders have a variation of the XO system in which males have two different X chromosomes (X1X2O), while females have a pair of X1 chromosomes and a pair of X2 chromosomes (X1X1X2X2).[1] Some spiders have more complex systems involving as many as 13 different X chromosomes.[1]
^ abcBull, James J.; Evolution of sex determining mechanisms; p. 17 ISBN0805304002
^Bachtrog, Doris; Mank, Judith E.; Peichel, Catherine L.; Kirkpatrick, Mark; Otto, Sarah P.; Ashman, Tia-Lynn; Hahn, Matthew W.; Kitano, Jun; Mayrose, Itay; Ming, Ray; Perrin, Nicolas; Ross, Laura; Valenzuela, Nicole; Vamosi, Jana C. and The Tree of Sex Consortium; ‘Sex Determination: Why So Many Ways of Doing It?’; PLoS Biol12(7): e1001899
^Devlin, R.H. and Y. Nagahama, 2002. ‘Sex determination and sex differentiation in fish: an overview of genetic, physiological, and environmental influences’; Aquaculture 208: 191–364.
^Anderson, Luís Alves; Oliveira, Claudio; Nirchio, Mauro; Granado, Ángel and Foresti, Fausto; ‘Karyotypic relationships among the tribes of Hypostominae (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) with description of XO sex chromosome system in a Neotropical fish species’; Genetica, vol. 128 (2006); pp. 1-9
^Denys, C.; Kadjo, B.; Missoup, A. D.; Monadjem, A.; Aniskine, V. (2013). "New records of bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) and karyotypes from Guinean Mount Nimba (West Africa)". Italian Journal of Zoology. 80 (2): 279–290. doi:10.1080/11250003.2013.775367. hdl:2263/42399. S2CID55842692.
^Kobayashi, Tsuyoshi; Yamada, Fumio; Hashimoto, Takuma; Abe, Shintaro; Matsuda, Yoichi; Kuroiwa, Asato (2007). "Exceptional minute sex-specific region in the XO mammal, Ryukyu spiny rat". Chromosome Research. 15 (2): 175–187. doi:10.1007/s10577-006-1093-y. PMID17294259. S2CID6461447.