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Comparative Primate Molecular Cytogenetics: Revealing Ancestral Genomes, Marker Order, and Evolutionary New Centromeres

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Post-Genome Biology of Primates

Part of the book series: Primatology Monographs ((PrimMono))

Abstract

In this review, we focus on the cytogenetic level of primate genome organization: chromosomes and karyotypes. Reconstructing the genome of ancestors is an obligatory goal of comparative primate cytogenetics. Cytogenetic comparison between species has a long history, going back to the early decades of the last century. Classical primate cytogeneticists provided basic data on the number of chromosomes, their size, and the relative position of the centromere of many primate species. Chromosome banding showed the high level of conservation among humans, apes, and monkeys, but establishing chromosomal homology between distantly related species or species characterized by rapid chromosomal evolution remained speculative until the advent of molecular cytogenetics. Chromosome painting soon resolved problems of accurately determining chromosomal homology. Painting probes could easily map all the translocation between primate species but did not provide information on intrachromosomal rearrangements. Then, FISH with cloned DNA provided high-resolution cytogenetic comparisons of marker order along chromosomes. Results revealed that centromere shifts (“evolutionary new centromere” ENC) are an important process in modifying primate genomes on a par with translocations and inversions. Comparison between ENC and clinical neocentromeres shows that evolutionary perspectives can provide compelling underlying explicative grounds for contemporary genomic phenomena.

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Abbreviations

BACs:

Bacterial artificial chromosomes

BES:

Bacterial artificial chromosome end sequences

BLAST:

Basic local alignment search tool

CAR:

Contiguous ancestral regions

ChIP:

Chromatin immunoprecipitation

DOP-PCR:

Degenerate oligonucleotide primed-PCR

ENC:

Evolutionary new centromere

FACS:

Fluorescence-activated cell sorter

FISH:

Fluorescent in situ hybridization DNA

PAC:

P1 artificial chromosomes

SB:

Synteny block

WCP:

Whole chromosome paints

YAC:

Yeast artificial chromosomes

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Anthropology, Department of Evolutionary Biology, University of Florence, Via del Proconsolo 12, 50122, Florence, Italy

    Roscoe Stanyon

  2. Department of Genetics and Microbiology, University of Bari, Via Amendola 165/A, Bari, Italy

    Nicoletta Archidiacono & Mariano Rocchi

Authors
  1. Roscoe Stanyon
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  2. Nicoletta Archidiacono
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  3. Mariano Rocchi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Roscoe Stanyon .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Kanrin 41-2, Inuyama, Aichi, 484-8506, Japan

    Hirohisa Hirai

  2. Department of Cellular and Molecular Bio., Inuyama, 484-8506, Japan

    Hiroo Imai

  3. Kyoto University, Primates Research Institute, Kanbayashi, Inuyama, 484-8506, Aichi, Japan

    Yasuhiro Go

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Stanyon, R., Archidiacono, N., Rocchi, M. (2012). Comparative Primate Molecular Cytogenetics: Revealing Ancestral Genomes, Marker Order, and Evolutionary New Centromeres. In: Hirai, H., Imai, H., Go, Y. (eds) Post-Genome Biology of Primates. Primatology Monographs. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54011-3_13

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