title: The chimpanzee-specific pericentric inversions that distinguish humans and chimpanzees have identical breakpoints in Pan troglodytes and Pan paniscus.
abstract: Seven of nine pericentric inversions that distinguish human (HSA) and chimpanzee karyotypes are chimpanzee-specific. In this study we investigated whether the two extant chimpanzee species, Pan troglodytes (common chimpanzee) and Pan paniscus (bonobo), share exactly the same pericentric inversions. The methods applied were FISH with breakpoint-spanning BAC/PAC clones and PCR analyses of the breakpoint junction sequences. Our findings for the homologues to HSA 4, 5, 9, 12, 16, and 17 confirm for the first time at the sequence level that these pericentric inversions have identical breakpoints in the common chimpanzee and the bonobo. Therefore, these inversions predate the separation of the two chimpanzee species 0.86-2 Mya. Further, the inversions distinguishing human and chimpanzee karyotypes may be regarded as early acquisitions, such that they are likely to have been present at the time of human/chimpanzee divergence. According to the chromosomal speciation theory the inversions themselves could have promoted human speciation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Genetics, University of Ulm, 89069 Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: Justyna M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Szamalek
authors.forename: Violaine
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Goidts
authors.forename: Jeremy B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Searle
authors.forename: David N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.forename: Horst
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hameister
authors.forename: Hildegard
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kehrer-Sawatzki
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D007446:Chromosome Inversion / Q000235:genetics*; D002877:Chromosomes, Human / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods; D007621:Karyotyping / Q000379:methods; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D019974:Pan paniscus / Q000235:genetics*; D002679:Pan troglodytes / Q000235:genetics*; D013045:Species Specificity