Two sex-linked loci in the leopard frog, Rana pipiens

Abstract

Crosses involving one heterozygous parent were performed to test the inheritance of enzymes in the leopard frog, Rana pipiens. After metamorphosis, offspring were sexed and tissue extracts from them were analyzed by gel electrophoresis. Enzyme genotype and sex showed independent assortment for 10 of 12 enzymes heterozygous in the male parent. However, among the offspring of males heterozygous for peptidase C (Pep-C) or superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD-1), male progeny tend to inherit one allele, whereas female progeny tend to inherit the other. Data from several different crosses yield recombination frequencies of 8.6% between sex and SOD-1, 6.9% between SOD-1 and Pep-C and 12.1% between sex and Pep-C. When the female parent is heterozygous for these enzymes no significant difference is seen, in the offspring, between male and female homozygotes and heterozygotes. These results confirm that males are the heterogametic sex in R. pipiens and suggest that sex is determined by a small number of genes on otherwise identical X and Y chromosomes.