Cell and Developmental Biology Commons^™

Origin Of Amphibian And Avian Chromosomes By Fission, Fusion, And Retention Of Ancestral Chromosomes, Stephen R. Voss, D. Kevin Kump, Srikrishna Putta, Nathan Pauly, Anna Reynolds, Rema J. Henry, Saritha Basa, John A. Walker, Jeramiah J. Smith

Biology Faculty Publications

Amphibian genomes differ greatly in DNA content and chromosome size, morphology, and number. Investigations of this diversity are needed to identify mechanisms that have shaped the evolution of vertebrate genomes. We used comparative mapping to investigate the organization of genes in the Mexican axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum), a species that presents relatively few chromosomes (n = 14) and a gigantic genome (>20 pg/N). We show extensive conservation of synteny between Ambystoma, chicken, and human, and a positive correlation between the length of conserved segments and genome size. Ambystoma segments are estimated to be four to 51 times longer than homologous …