title: Chromosomal Diversity and Karyotype Evolution in South American Macaws (Psittaciformes, Psittacidae).
abstract: Most species of macaws, which represent the largest species of Neotropical Psittacidae, characterized by their long tails and exuberant colours, are endangered, mainly because of hunting, illegal trade and habitat destruction. Long tailed species seem to represent a monophyletic group within Psittacidae, supported by cytogenetic data. Hence, these species show karyotypes with predominance of biarmed macrochromosomes, in contrast to short tailed species, with a predominance of acro/telocentric macrochromosomes. Because of their similar karyotypes, it has been proposed that inversions and translocations may be the main types of rearrangements occurring during the evolution of this group. However, only one species of macaw, Ara macao, that has had its genome sequenced was analyzed by means of molecular cytogenetics. Hence, in order to verify the rearrangements, we analyzed the karyotype of two species of macaws, Ara chloropterus and Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus, using cross-species chromosome painting with two different sets of probes from chicken and white hawk. Both intra- and interchromosomal rearrangements were observed. Chicken probes revealed the occurrence of fusions, fissions and inversions in both species, while the probes from white hawk determined the correct breakpoints or chromosome segments involved in the rearrangements. Some of these rearrangements were common for both species of macaws (fission of GGA1 and fusions of GGA1p/GGA4q, GGA6/GGA7 and GGA8/GGA9), while the fissions of GGA 2 and 4p were found only in A. chloropterus. These results confirm that despite apparent chromosomal similarity, macaws have very diverse karyotypes, which differ from each other not only by inversions and translocations as postulated before, but also by fissions and fusions.
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós Graduação em Genética e Biologia Molecular, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, PA, Brazil; Laboratório de Cultura de Tecidos e Citogenética, SAMAM, Instituto Evandro Chagas, Ananindeua, PA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ivanete
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: de Oliveira Furo
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Genética, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kretschmer
authors.affiliation: Cambridge Resource Centre for Comparative Genomics, University of Cambridge Department of Veterinary Medicine, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Patrícia C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: O'Brien
authors.affiliation: Cambridge Resource Centre for Comparative Genomics, University of Cambridge Department of Veterinary Medicine, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Malcolm A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Ferguson-Smith
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Cultura de Tecidos e Citogenética, SAMAM, Instituto Evandro Chagas, Ananindeua, PA, Brazil; Faculdade de Ciências Naturais, Instituto de Ciências Exatas e Naturais, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, PA-Brazil.
authors.forename: Edivaldo Herculano Corrêa
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: de Oliveira
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002645:Chickens; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D020223:Chromosome Painting; D005260:Female; D015321:Gene Rearrangement; D014644:Genetic Variation; D046428:Hawks; D059785:Karyotype; D007621:Karyotyping; D008297:Male; D010311:Parrots / Q000235:genetics*