Sex‐chrom, a database on plant sex chromosomes

Abstract

Sex determination and sex chromosomes have been extensively studied due to their importance in evolutionary biology. Species of dioecious plants, which may have sex chromosomes, offer us unique insights into the history of this phenomenon across the Tree of Life. Here, we present Sex‐chrom: a database on plant sex chromosomes (www.sexchrom.csic.es), which aims to provide an easily accessible and organized information source for scientists and a general audience interested in this field. Basic data such as complete taxonomic classification of the species, chromosome number, genome size (2C), ploidy level, sex determination mechanism, presence of homomorphic or heteromorphic sex chromosomes and their corresponding sources are easily available for 178 species of 84 genera and 65 families. Besides, the database contains specific sections for ten selected model systems in plant sex chromosome research such as Silene latifolia and Rumex acetosa. In these sections, more detailed information is also available, including data on sex‐linked genes, transposable elements or tandemly repeated DNA present in sex chromosomes. Data have been extracted from 431 sources published between 1919 and 2020.