Latitudinal Variation in the Pattern of Temperature-Dependent Sex Determination in the Japanese Gecko, Gekko japonicus

Simple Summary In egg-laying lizards, sex is determined by genetic factors in species with sex chromosomes or egg incubation temperatures in species without sex chromosomes, i.e., temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD). Surprisingly, recent studies find sex chromosomes and TSD co-occur in the same species in some lizards. The Japanese gecko from Japan may be this case. However, Japanese gecko with TSD from a Chinese population does not have sex chromosomes, suggesting that the pattern of TSD in this gecko may vary among populations. We incubated gecko eggs from three populations in China at constant temperatures of 24, 26, 28, 30, and 32 degrees C to quantify the sex determination pattern. We found that the temperature yielding an equal number of sons and daughters of the low-latitude population was lower than that of the two high-latitude populations. Moreover, the low-latitude population had a narrower temperature range producing mixed sex offspring at lower temperatures, but a wider range at higher temperatures. Sex ratio was almost 1:1 for the low-latitude population when incubated from 26 to 30 degrees C. Conversely, more male offspring were produced at 28 or 30 degrees C in the two high-latitude populations. Our study may provide an interesting system to explore the evolution of sex determination mechanisms in animals. Identifying latitudinal variation in the pattern of temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD) may provide insight into the evolution of sex determining system in vertebrates, but such studies remain limited. Here, we quantified TSD patterns of three geographically separated populations of the Japanese gecko (Gekko japonicus) along the latitudinal cline of China. We incubated gecko eggs from the three populations at constant temperatures of 24, 26, 28, 30, and 32 degrees C to quantify the TSD pattern. Our study demonstrated that G. japonicus exhibited a FMF pattern of TSD, with the low and high incubation temperatures yielding significantly female-biased hatchlings, and the medium temperatures producing male-biased hatchlings. More interestingly, we found latitudinal variations in the TSD pattern in terms of pivotal temperatures (T(piv)s), transitional range of temperatures (TRT), and the sex ratios at the medium temperatures. The T(piv)s for the low-latitude population were lower than those for the two high-latitude populations. The low-latitude population has a narrower FM TRT, but a wider MF TRT. The sex ratio is almost 50:50 for the low-latitude population when eggs were incubated from 26 to 30 degrees C. Conversely, the sex ratio is male-biased for the two high-latitude populations at 28 or 30 degrees C. Therefore, G. japonicus may provide an interesting system to explore the evolution of TSD in reptiles given the diversity of TSD patterns among populations.

Automated summary

This study investigates the sex determination patterns in different populations of the Japanese gecko in China by incubating their eggs at different temperatures. The researchers find that there are variations in the sex determination patterns among gecko populations at different latitudes. The low-latitude population has a nearly equal sex ratio, while the high-latitude populations produce more male offspring at certain temperatures.