Cladistical analysis of primitive G-band sequences for the karyotype of the ancestor of the Cricetidae complex of rodents

Abstract

Homologous segments identified by G-banding sequences of chromosomes of Peromyscus boylii, Neotoma micropus, Oryzomys capito, (Family Cricetidae) Rattus norvegicus, Melomys burtoni, and Apodemus sylvaticus (Family Muridae) were used to hypothesize a chromosomal condition for the cricetid ancestor. A critical assumption in proposing the primitive G-banding sequences for a given chromosome is that if the outgroup and ingroup taxa have a specific sequence, then the ancestor of the ingroup taxa also had that same sequence. Using this methodology, (chromosome numbers refer to proposed homology to the standardized karyotype for Peromyscus), we propose that: (1) the primitive banding pattern of chromosome 1 was identical to that of Neotoma; (2) the primitive patterns of chromosomes 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 were primitive banding patterns of 5 and 13 were undetermined; (4) a major portion of the banding patterns of 14 and X were present in the ancestral karyotype. Only the largest 14 autosomes and X were examined because the smaller elements had insufficient G-band definition to ensure reasonable accuracy. The karyotype ancestral to that of Peromyscus, Neotoma, and Oryzomys may be as above and the banding patterns of 5, 13, and 14 were acrocentric and identical to those shown for Peromyscus, Neotoma, and Oryzomys (Fig. 1). In the primitive karyotype, heterochromatin (C-band material) was probably limited to the centromeric regions. If the primitive karyotype is as described above, then it is possible to determine the direction, type, and magnitude of chromosomal evolution evident in the various cricetid lineages. Based on the available data, radiation from the ancestral cytotype is characterized by a nonrandom distribution of types of chromosomal changes. Within many genera, more rearrangements occur in the 14 largest autosomal chromosomes of some congeneric species than distinguish the proposed primitive conditions for the genera Peromyscus, Neotoma, and Oryzomys. It would appear that the extensive morphological radiation from the primitive cricetid ancestor as indicated by the presence of over 100 surviving genera within the family, was not accompanied by extensive karyotypic changes. The magnitude of chromosomal variation that accompanies speciation in these genera appears to range from no detectable chromosomal evolution to a radical reorganization of the genome.