title: Comparative genomic analysis links karyotypic evolution with genomic evolution in the Indian muntjac (Muntiacus muntjak vaginalis).
abstract: The karyotype of Indian muntjacs (Muntiacus muntjak vaginalis) has been greatly shaped by chromosomal fusion, which leads to its lowest diploid number among the extant known mammals. We present, here, comparative results based on draft sequences of 37 bacterial artificial clones (BAC) clones selected by chromosome painting for this special muntjac species. Sequence comparison on these BAC clones uncovered sequence syntenic relationships between the muntjac genome and those of other mammals. We found that the muntjac genome has peculiar features with respect to intron size and evolutionary rates of genes. Inspection of more than 80 pairs of orthologous introns from 15 genes reveals a significant reduction in intron size in the Indian muntjac compared to that of human, mouse, and dog. Evolutionary analysis using 19 genes indicates that the muntjac genes have evolved rapidly compared to other mammals. In addition, we identified and characterized sequence composition of the first BAC clone containing a chromosomal fusion site. Our results shed new light on the genome architecture of the Indian muntjac and suggest that chromosomal rearrangements have been accompanied by other salient genomic changes.
authors.affiliation: CAS-Max Planck Junior Research Group, Key Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, 650223, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Jianguo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xiangyi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Qingpeng
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Jianxiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chi
authors.forename: Fengtang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Wen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D022202:Chromosomes, Artificial, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D050939:Gene Fusion; D016678:Genome; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D007438:Introns; D007621:Karyotyping; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D018668:Muntjacs / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA