1. Chromosome banding in Amphibia
- Author
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W. Feichtinger, Michael Schmid, R. Visbal García, Claus Steinlein, Manfred Schartl, A. Fernández Badillo, J. Manzanilla Pupo, and Thomas Haaf
- Subjects
Genetics ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Autosome ,biology ,Heterochromatin ,Cytogenetics ,Zoology ,Karyotype ,biology.organism_classification ,Y chromosome ,Chromosome 16 ,Gastrotheca ovifera ,Meiosis ,Chromosome 18 ,medicine ,Gastrotheca walkeri ,Constitutive heterochromatin ,Small supernumerary marker chromosome ,Molecular Biology ,Sex linkage ,X chromosome ,Genetics (clinical) - Abstract
A 15-year cytogenetic survey on one population of the leaf litter frog Eleutherodactylus maussi in northern Venezuela confirmed the existence of multiple XXAA♂/XAAY♀ sex chromosomes which originated by a centric (Robertsonian) fusion between the original Y chromosome and an autosome. 95% of the male individuals in this population are carriers of this Y-autosome fusion. In male meiosis the XAAY sex chromosomes pair in the expected trivalent configuration. In the same population, 5% of the male animals still possess the original, free XY sex chromosomes. In a second population of E. maussi analyzed, all male specimens are characterized by these ancestral XY chromosomes which form normal bivalents in meiosis. E. maussi apparently represents the first vertebrate species discovered in which a derived Y-autosome fusion still coexists with the ancestral free XY sex chromosomes. The free XY sex chromosomes, as well as the multiple XAY sex chromosomes are still in a very primitive (homomorphic) stage of differentiation. With no banding technique applied it is possible to distinguish the Y from the X. DNA flow cytometric measurements show that the genome of E. maussi is among the largest in the anuran family Leptodactylidae. The present study also supplies further data on differential chromosome banding and fluorescence in situ hybridization experiments in this amphibian species.
- Published
- 2002
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