Scientists map sex chromosome evolution in pathogenic fungi

(Duke University) Duke researchers recently mapped the evolutionary turning point that transformed the pathogenic Cryptococcus fungus from an organism with thousands of sexes to only two. They found that during evolution, a reshuffling of DNA known as translocation brought together separate chunks of sex-determining genes onto a single chromosome, essentially mimicking the human X or Y chromosome. Surprisingly, these translocations occurred at the chromosome's centromeres, regions so dense that ...