RESUMO
In a Zoo-FISH study chicken autosomal chromosome paints 1 to 9 (GGA1-GGA9) were hybridized to metaphase spreads of nine diverse birds belonging to primitive and modern orders. This comparative approach allows tracing of chromosomal rearrangements that occurred during bird evolution. Striking homologies in the chromosomes of the different species were noted, indicating a high degree of evolutionary conservation in avian karyotypes. In two species, the quail and the goose, all chicken paints specifically labeled their corresponding chromosomes. In three pheasant species as well as in the American rhea and blackbird, GGA4 hybridized to chromosome 4 and additionally to a single pair of microchromosomes. Furthermore, in the pheasants fission of the ancestral galliform chromosome 2 could be documented. Hybridization of various chicken probes to two different chromosomes or to only the short or long chromosome arm of one chromosome pair in the species representing the orders Passeriformes, Strigiformes, and Columbiformes revealed translocations and chromosome fissions during species radiation. Thus comparative analysis with chicken chromosome-specific painting probes proves to be a rapid and comprehensive approach to elucidate the chromosomal relationships of the extant birds.
Assuntos
Aves/genética , Galinhas/genética , Sintenia , Animais , Coloração Cromossômica , Cromossomos/ultraestrutura , Evolução Molecular , Cariotipagem , Metáfase , Recombinação GenéticaRESUMO
Differentiated sex chromosome pairs in diverse species display certain common characteristics, normally comprising one largely heterochromatic genetically inactive chromosome and one euchromatic genetically active chromosome (e.g. the mammalian Y and X respectively). It is widely accepted that dimorphic sex chromosomes evolved from homologous pairs of autosomes. Although the exact mechanisms through which the pair diverged are not fully understood, an initial suppression of recombination in the sex-determining region is required by all of the major theories. Here we address the question of the mechanism by which this initial suppression of recombination occurs. Our model postulates that the stochastic, de novo accumulation of heterochromatin in the sex determining region can delay pairing of the sex chromosomes in meiosis, resulting in a decrease in recombination. Data to support this model is presented from the cichlid fish, Oreochromis niloticus. Although such a decrease would in most circumstances be evolutionarily disadvantageous, if the region concerned included the major sex determining gene and other gene(s) with sex-specific functions, then this would be selectively advantageous and could trigger the process(es) which, ultimately, lead to the differentiation of the sex chromosomes.
Assuntos
Evolução Molecular , Tilápia/genética , Cromossomo X/genética , Cromossomo Y/genética , Animais , Feminino , Variação Genética , Heterocromatina/genética , Hibridização in Situ Fluorescente , Masculino , Modelos Genéticos , Complexo Sinaptonêmico/genéticaRESUMO
Sex determination in the blue tilapia, Oreochromis aureus, is primarily a ZW female-ZZ male system. Here, by analysis of the pachytene meiotic chromosomes of O. aureus, we demonstrate the presence of two distinct regions of restricted pairing present only in heterogametic fish. The first, a subterminal region of the largest bivalent is located near to the region of unpairing found in the closely related species O. niloticus, while the second is in a small bivalent, most of which was unpaired. These results suggest that O. aureus has two separate pairs of sex chromosomes.