title: Meiotic instability of chicken ultra-long telomeres and mapping of a 2.8 megabase array to the W-sex chromosome.
abstract: The objective of this research was to study the meiotic stability of a subset of chicken telomere arrays, which are the largest reported for any vertebrate species. Inheritance of these ultra-long telomere arrays (200 kb to 3 mb) was studied in a highly homozygous inbred line, UCD 003 (F >or= 99.9). Analysis of array transmission in four families indicated unexpected heterogeneity and non-Mendelian segregation including high-frequency-generation of novel arrays. Additionally, the largest array detected (2.8 Mb) was female-specific and correlated to the most intense telomeric DNA signal on the W-sex chromosome by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). These results are discussed in regard to the potential functions of the ultra-long telomere arrays in the chicken genome including generation of genetic variation through enhanced recombination, protection against erosion by providing a buffer for gene-dense regions, and sex-chromosome organization.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science, University of California, 2131D Meyer Hall, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
authors.forename: K L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Rodrigue
authors.forename: B P
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: May
authors.forename: T R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Famula
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Delany
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002645:Chickens / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D008297:Male; D008540:Meiosis / Q000235:genetics*; D012730:Sex Chromosomes; D016615:Telomere