Open AccessOecomys catherinae (Sigmodontinae, Cricetidae): Evidence for chromosomal speciation?
Author(s) -
Stella Miranda Malcher,
Júlio César Pieczarka,
Lena Geise,
Rogério Vieira Rossi,
Adenilson Leão Pereira,
Patrícia C. M. O’Brien,
Paulo Henrique Asfora,
Victor Fonsêca da Silva,
Maria I. C. Sampaio,
Malcolm A. FergusonSmith,
Cleusa Yoshiko Nagamachi
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0181434
Subject(s) - sigmodontinae , cricetidae , biology , species complex , karyotype , evolutionary biology , zoology , cytochrome b , mitochondrial dna , chromosome , phylogenetic tree , genetics , ecology , gene , rodent
Among the Oryzomyini (Sigmodontinae), Oecomys is the most speciose, with 17 species. This genus presents high karyotypic diversity (2n = 54 to 2n = 86) and many taxonomic issues at the species level because of the presence of cryptic species and the overlap of morphological characters. For these reasons the real number of species of Oecomys may be underestimated. With the aim of verifying if the taxon Oecomys catherinae is composed of more than one species, we made comparative studies on two populations from two regions of Brazil, one from the Amazon and another from the Atlantic Forest using both classical cytogenetics (G- and C-banding) and comparative genomic mapping with whole chromosome probes of Hylaeamys megacephalus (HME), molecular data (cytochrome b mitochondrial DNA) and morphology. Our results confirm that Oecomys catherinae occurs in the southeast Amazon, and reveal a new karyotype for the species (2n = 62, FNa = 62). The comparative genomic analysis with HME probes identified chromosomal homeologies between both populations and rearrangements that are responsible for the different karyotypes. We compared our results in Sigmodontinae genera with other studies that also used HME probes. These chromosomal differences together with the absence of consistent differentiation between the two populations on morphological and molecular analyses suggest that these populations may represent cryptic species.