Chromosome fusions shape an ancient UV sex chromosome system

Sex chromosomes occur in diverse organisms, but their structural complexity has often prevented evolutionary analyses. Here we use two chromosome-scale reference genomes of the moss to trace the evolution of the sex chromosomes in bryophytes. Comparative analyses show the moss genome comprises seven remarkably stable ancestral chromosomal elements. An exception is the sex chromosomes, which share thousands of broadly-expressed genes but lack any synteny. We show the sex chromosomes evolved over 300 million years ago and expanded via at least two distinct chromosomal fusions. These results link suppressed recombination between the sex chromosomes with rapid structural change and the evolution of distinct transposable element compositions, and suggest haploid gene expression promotes the evolution of independent female and male gene-regulatory networks.