TY - JOUR AB - XY systems usually show chromosome-wide compensation of X-linked genes, while in many ZW systems, compensation is restricted to a minority of dosage-sensitive genes. Why such differences arose is still unclear. Here, we combine comparative genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics to obtain a complete overview of the evolution of gene dosage on the Z-chromosome of Schistosoma parasites. We compare the Z-chromosome gene content of African (Schistosoma mansoni and S. haematobium) and Asian (S. japonicum) schistosomes and describe lineage-specific evolutionary strata. We use these to assess gene expression evolution following sex-linkage. The resulting patterns suggest a reduction in expression of Z-linked genes in females, combined with upregulation of the Z in both sexes, in line with the first step of Ohno’s classic model of dosage compensation evolution. Quantitative proteomics suggest that post-transcriptional mechanisms do not play a major role in balancing the expression of Z-linked genes. AU - Picard, Marion A AU - Cosseau, Celine AU - Ferré, Sabrina AU - Quack, Thomas AU - Grevelding, Christoph AU - Couté, Yohann AU - Vicoso, Beatriz ID - 131 JF - eLife TI - Evolution of gene dosage on the Z-chromosome of schistosome parasites VL - 7 ER -