cells Article Degenerated, Undifferentiated, Rearranged, Lost: High Variability of Sex Chromosomes in Geometridae (Lepidoptera) Identified by Sex Chromatin Martina Hejníˇcková 1,2 , Martina Dalíková 1,2 , Pavel Potocký 2, Toomas Tammaru 3, Marharyta Trehubenko 1,2, Svatava Kubíˇcková 4 , František Marec 2 and Magda Zrzavá 1,2,* 1 Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 1760, 370 05 Ceskˇ é Budˇejovice,Czech Republic;
[email protected] (M.H.);
[email protected] (M.D.);
[email protected] (M.T.) 2 Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Entomology, Branišovská 31, 370 05 Ceskˇ é Budˇejovice,Czech Republic;
[email protected] (P.P.);
[email protected] (F.M.) 3 Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Vanemuise 46, 51014 Tartu, Estonia;
[email protected] 4 Veterinary Research Institute, Hudcova 70, 621 00 Brno, Czech Republic;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected] Abstract: Sex chromatin is a conspicuous body that occurs in polyploid nuclei of most lepidopteran females and consists of numerous copies of the W sex chromosome. It is also a cytogenetic tool used to rapidly assess the W chromosome presence in Lepidoptera. However, certain chromosomal features could disrupt the formation of sex chromatin and lead to the false conclusion that the W chromosome is absent in the respective species. Here we tested the sex chromatin presence in Citation: Hejníˇcková,M.; Dalíková, 50 species of Geometridae. In eight selected species with either missing, atypical, or normal sex M.; Potocký, P.; Tammaru, T.; chromatin patterns, we performed a detailed karyotype analysis by means of comparative genomic Trehubenko, M.; Kubíˇcková,S.; hybridization (CGH) and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH).