Papa, FFPapaWindbichler, NNWindbichlerWaterhouse, RMRMWaterhouseCagnetti, AACagnettiD'Amato, RRD'AmatoPersampieri, TTPersampieriLawniczak, MKNMKNLawniczakNolan, TTNolanPapathanos, PAPAPapathanos2017-10-202017-07-262017-10-202017-07-26GENOME RESEARCH, 2017, 27 (9), pp.1536-15481088-9051http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/51978Understanding how phenotypic differences between males and females arise from the sex-biased expression of nearly identical genomes can reveal important insights into the biology and evolution of a species. Among Anopheles mosquito species, these phenotypic differences include vectorial capacity, as it is only females that blood feed and thus transmit human malaria. Here, we use RNA-seq data from multiple tissues of four vector species spanning the Anopheles phylogeny to explore the genomic and evolutionary properties of sex-biased genes. We find that, in these mosquitoes, in contrast to what has been found in many other organisms, female-biased genes are more rapidly evolving in sequence, expression, and genic turnover than male-biased genes. Our results suggest that this atypical pattern may be due to the combination of sex-specific life history challenges encountered by females, such as blood feeding. Furthermore, female propensity to mate only once in nature in male swarms likely diminishes sexual selection of post-reproductive traits related to sperm competition among males. We also develop a comparative framework to systematically explore tissue- and sex-specific splicing to document its conservation throughout the genus and identify a set of candidate genes for future functional analyses of sex-specific isoform usage. Finally, our data reveal that the deficit of male-biased genes on the X Chromosomes in Anopheles is a conserved feature in this genus and can be directly attributed to chromosome-wide transcriptional regulation that de-masculinizes the X in male reproductive tissues.© 2017 Papa et al. This article, published in Genome Research, is available under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International), as described at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.Science & TechnologyLife Sciences & BiomedicineBiochemistry & Molecular BiologyBiotechnology & Applied MicrobiologyGenetics & HeredityDROSOPHILA-X-CHROMOSOMEHIERARCHICAL CATALOGMOLECULAR EVOLUTIONPOSITIVE SELECTIONEXPRESSIONGAMBIAETRANSCRIPTOMEPROTEINDEMASCULINIZATIONIDENTIFICATION06 Biological Sciences11 Medical And Health SciencesBioinformaticsJournal Articlehttps://www.dx.doi.org/10.1101/gr.217216.1161549-5469