Chromosome Research

, Volume 12, Issue 8, pp 767–776 | Cite as

X chromosome painting in Microtus: Origin and evolution of the giant sex chromosomes

  • J. A. Marchal
  • M. J. Acosta
  • H. Nietzel
  • K. Sperling
  • M. Bullejos
  • R. Díaz de la Guardia
  • A. Sánchez
Article
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Abstract

Sex chromosomes in species of the genus Microtus present some characteristic features that make them a very interesting group to study sex chromosome composition and evolution. M. cabrerae and M. agrestis have enlarged sex chromosomes (known as ‘giant sex chromosomes’) due to the presence of large heterochromatic blocks. By chromosome microdissection, we have generated probes from the X chromosome of both species and hybridized on chromosomes from six Microtus and one Arvicola species. Our results demonstrated that euchromatic regions of X chromosomes in Microtus are highly conserved, as occurs in other mammalian groups. The sex chromosomes heterochromatic blocks are probably originated by fast amplification of different sequences, each with an independent origin and evolution in each species. For this reason, the sex heterochromatin in Microtus species is highly heterogeneous within species (with different composition for the Y and X heterochromatic regions in M. cabrerae) and between species (as the composition of M. agrestis and M. cabrerae sex heterochromatin is different). In addition, the X chromosome painting results on autosomes of several species suggest that, during karyotypic evolution of the genus Microtus, some rearrangements have probably occurred between sex chromosomes and autosomes.

Key words

chromosome painting evolution heterochromatin Microtus X chromosome 
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Copyright information

© Kluwer Academic Publishers 2004

Authors and Affiliations

  • J. A. Marchal
    • 1
  • M. J. Acosta
    • 1
  • H. Nietzel
    • 2
  • K. Sperling
    • 2
  • M. Bullejos
    • 1
  • R. Díaz de la Guardia
    • 2
  • A. Sánchez
    • 1
  1. 1.Departamento de Biología ExperimentalFacultad de Ciencias Experimentales y de la Salud, Universidad de JaénSpain
  2. 2.Institute of Human Genetics, Charité, Campus Virchow-KlinikumGermany

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