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Tandem Fusions in Evolution of Ethiopian Endemic Rodents

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Abstract

The species number has been strikingly increasing in recent current works on Ethiopian endemic rodents, which to a great extent is due to genomic studies including the karyotype discoveries. Here, the diploid number 2N = 52 is defined anew for the genus Stenocephalemys, endemic to the Ethiopian Highlands, where four karyotypes with 2N values of 54, 50 and 46 were so far described for four taxa. The new karyotype (S. “pseudogriseicauda”) combines into a nearly full series with other 2Ns (except the not yet found 2N = 48) within the genus and shows one interspecific chromosome rearrangement associated with the tandem fusion, in the direction 2N = 54 to 2N = 52. Together with the earlier detection of tandem fusions between karyotypes with 2N = 46 (S. albipes) and 2N = 54 (S. albocaudatus, S. griseicauda), this rodent taxonomic group presents an interesting case for the phenomenon of karyotypic orthoselection in an intrageneric phyletic line via the reoccurence of such characteristic chromosomal rearrangements as tandem fusions.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We authors are grateful to I.Yu. Baklushinskaya (Koltzov Institute of Developmental Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences) and O.L. Kolomiyets (Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, Russian Academy of Sciences) for help in laboratory research. The advice of S.V. Pavlova (Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences) on the design of illustrations was useful.

Funding

This study was partially supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project no. 18-04-00563-a).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119071, Moscow, Russia

    N. Sh. Bulatova, R. S. Nadzhafova, D. S. Kostin & L.A. Lavrenchenko

  2. Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991, Moscow, Russia

    V. E. Spangenberg

Authors
  1. N. Sh. Bulatova
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  2. R. S. Nadzhafova
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  3. D. S. Kostin
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  4. L.A. Lavrenchenko
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  5. V. E. Spangenberg
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Correspondence to N. Sh. Bulatova.

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Conflict of interest. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Statement on the welfare of animals. All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for animal care and use were followed.

Studies of people as an object were not conducted.

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Bulatova, N.S., Nadzhafova, R.S., Kostin, D.S. et al. Tandem Fusions in Evolution of Ethiopian Endemic Rodents. Russ J Genet 56, 1255–1259 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1022795420090045

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