title: Comparison of the chicken and zebra finch Z chromosomes shows evolutionary rearrangements.
abstract: Using fluorescent in-situ hybridization (FISH) of zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) clones, we determined the chromosomal localizations of 14 zebra finch genes that are Z-linked in chickens: ATP5A1, CHD1, NR2F1, DMRT1, PAM, GHR, HSD17B4, NIPBL, ACO1, HINT1, SMAD2, SPIN, NTRK2 and UBE2R2. All 14 genes also map to the zebra finch Z chromosome, indicating substantial conservation of gene content on the Z chromosome in the two avian lineages. However, the physical order of these genes on the zebra finch Z chromosome differed from that of the chicken, in a pattern that would have required several inversions since the two lineages diverged. Eight of 14 zebra finch BAC DNA showed cross-hybridization to the W chromosome, usually to the entire W chromosome, suggesting that repetitive sequences are shared by the W and Z chromosomes. These repetitive sequences likely evolved in the finch lineage after it diverged from the Galliform lineage.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiological Science, UCLA, 621 Charles E. Young Drive South, Room 4117, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1606, USA.
authors.forename: Yuichiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Itoh
authors.forename: Kathy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kampf
authors.forename: Arthur P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Arnold
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002645:Chickens / Q000235:genetics*; D022202:Chromosomes, Artificial, Bacterial; D005260:Female; D046369:Finches / Q000235:genetics*; D015321:Gene Rearrangement; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D008297:Male; D020161:Physical Chromosome Mapping; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid / Q000235:genetics; D012730:Sex Chromosomes / Q000235:genetics*