Open AccessNumerical and structural variations of the X chromosomes and no. 2 autosomes in mandarin vole, Microtus mandarinus (Rodentia)
Author(s) -
ZHU BICAI,
DONG YUWEI,
GAO JUNFANG,
LI PEIQING,
PANG YONGHONH,
LIU HUANMIN,
CHEN HONG
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
hereditas
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.819
H-Index - 50
eISSN - 1601-5223
pISSN - 0018-0661
DOI - 10.1111/j.2006.0018-0661.01950.x
Subject(s) - autosome , biology , subspecies , karyotype , x chromosome , chromosome , microtus , genetics , vole , y chromosome , evolutionary biology , zoology , gene , population , demography , sociology
Here we describe our studies on Microtus mandarinus faeceus of Jiangyan in Jiangsu province of China. By karyotype and G‐banding analysis we have found variation in chromosome number and polymorphisms of the X chromosome and the second pair of autosomes of the subspecies. Chromosome number of the subspecies is 2n=47–50. The subspecies has three kinds of chromosomal sex: XX, XO and XY, among which one of the X chromosomes is subtelocentric (X ST ) and the other is metacentric (X M ). After comparing karyotypes of different subspecies, we found the specific cytogenetic characteristics of Microtus mandarinus , that is they have three kinds of chromosomal sex: XX, XO and XY; X chromosomes are heteromorphic; the chromosome number of female individuals are one less than male individuals; chromosome number of XX individuals are equal to that of XO ones. We hypothesize that Robertsonian translocation is the main reason of the polymorphism of the second pair of autosomes and variety of chromosome number, and it also causes the chromosome number evolution in different subspecies of Microtus mandarinus .