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A database of amphibian karyotypes

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Abstract

One of the first characteristics that we learn about the genome of many species is the number of chromosomes it is divided among. Despite this, many questions regarding the evolution of chromosome number remain unanswered. Testing hypotheses of chromosome number evolution using comparative approaches requires trait data to be readily accessible and associated with currently accepted taxonomy. The lack of accessible karyotype data that can be linked to phylogenies has limited the application of comparative approaches that could help us understand the evolution of genome structure. Furthermore, for taxonomists, the significance of new karyotype data can only be determined with reference to records for other species. Here, we describe a curated database (karyotype.org) developed to facilitate access to chromosome number and sex chromosome system data for amphibians. The open web interface for this database allows users to generate customized exploratory plots and tables of selected clades, as well as downloading CSV files for offline analyses.

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Abbreviations

cf :

for the Latin conformis or conferre

aff :

for the Latin affinis

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, TAMU 3258 Texas A&M, College Station, TX, 77843, USA

    Riddhi D. Perkins, Julio Rincones Gamboa, Michelle M Jonika, Johnathan Lo, Amy Shum & Heath Blackmon

  2. Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington, 501 S. Nedderman Dr, Arlington, TX, 76019, USA

    Richard H. Adams

Authors
  1. Riddhi D. Perkins
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  2. Julio Rincones Gamboa
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  3. Michelle M Jonika
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  4. Johnathan Lo
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  5. Amy Shum
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  6. Richard H. Adams
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  7. Heath Blackmon
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Contributions

HB and RHA conceived of the database and developed the ontology used. HB and RP both contributed to writing the manuscript, and collection of records. Research towards name resolution was performed by all authors and all authors edited the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Heath Blackmon.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Responsible Editor: Beth A. Sullivan

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Perkins, R.D., Gamboa, J.R., Jonika, M.M. et al. A database of amphibian karyotypes. Chromosome Res 27, 313–319 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10577-019-09613-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10577-019-09613-1

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