Conservation of repetitive DNA sequences in deer species studied by Southern blot transfer

Abstract

The Cervidae show one of the largest variations in chromosome number found within a mammalian family. The five species of the deer family which are the subject of this study vary in chromosome number from 2n = 70 to 2n = 6. Digestion with the restriction enzymes EcoRI, HpaII, HaeIII and MspI reveals that there is a series of highly repetitive sequences forming similar band patterns in the different species. To obtain information on the degree of homology among these conserved sequences we isolated a HpaII restriction fragment of approximately 990 base pairs from reindeer DNA. This DNA sequence was 32P-labelled and hybridized by the Southern blot technique to DNAs cleaved with HpaII and HaeIII from the reindeer and four other Cervidae species. Hybridization to specific restriction fragments was recorded in all species. The patterns of hybridization showed a higher degree of similarity between reindeer, elk and roe deer than between reindeer and the Asiatic species (fallow deer and muntjac). Homologies are still present between the highly repetitive sequences of the five species despite the drastic reorganization that led to a change in chromosome number from 6 to 70.

Phylogeny of Wapiti, Red Deer, Sika Deer, and Other North American Cervids as Determined from Mitochondrial DNA

“…Moose and caribou most likely have descended from lineages which did not give rise to the Odocoileus or Mazama species. Lima de Faria et al (1984) found that Alces and Rangifer were more homologous than Rangifer and other cervids, and perhaps sequence information from the Pudu (Pudu), the Hippocamelus (Heumul), and the Ozotoceros (Pampas deer) will shed some light on the relationship of these species. Estimated times of divergence for assessing the relationship among the Odocoileinae is not helpful because sequences have diverged more than 10%, which produces a large variation in the estimation.…”

“…Researchers began using protein electrophoresis (Bonnel and Selander, 1973;Cameron and Vyse, 1978;Ryman et al, 1977) but found little variation among large mammals, and in more recent years, the focus has moved to comparisons of DNA. Genetic markers have been used to separate the order Artiodactyla into suborders (Modi et al, 1996), the suborder Ruminantia into superfamilies Bovoidea and Cervoidea (Comincini et al, 1996), and family Cervidae into subfamilies (Miyamoto et al, 1990;Lima de Faria et al, 1984;Comincini et al, 1996;Cronin et al, 1996).…”

“…The European group consists of subspecies 5-11, the central Asian group consists of subspecies 12-18, and the east Asian and North American groups consist of subspecies 19-23 and 1-4, respectively. 1, C. e. roosevelti; 2, C. e. nannodes; 3, C. e. nelsoni; 4, C. e. manitobensis; 5, C. e. atlanticus; 6, C. e. elaphus; 7, C. e. scoticus; 8, C. e. hippelaphus; 9, C. e. barbarus; 10, C. e. hispanicus; 11, C. e. corsicanus; 12, C. e. maral; 13, C. e. bactrianus; 14, C. e. yarkandensis; 15, C. e. wachei; 16, C. e. hanglu; 17, C. e. wallichi; 18, C. e. macneilli; 19, C. e. kansuensis; 20, C. e. asiaticus/sibericus; 21, C. e. xanthopygus; 22, C. e. alashanicus; 23, C. e. songaricus. Rubini, 1990), repetitive DNA (Lima-de Faria et al, 1984;Bogenberger et al, 1987;Scherthan et al, 1990), RAPD analysis (Comincini et al, 1996), RFLP analysis of total mitochondrial (mt) DNA (Cronin, 1992), and RNA gene sequences of mtDNA (Miyamoto et al, 1990). Karyotyping has shown admixtures in populations where sika and red deer hybridize (Bartos and Zirovnicky, 1982).…”

Conservation of a 31-bp bovine subrepeat in centromeric satellite DNA monomers ofCervus elaphus and other cervid species

“…In cervid species, a major centromeric satellite DNA family appears to be predominantly organized into monomer sizes of 0.8 kb in the Indian and Chinese muntjac genomes (Bogenberger et al 1985, Yu et al 1986, Lin et al 1991, 1 kb in the reindeer (Lima-de-Faria et al 1984, Lee et al 1994 and 2 kb in the European roe deer (Scherthan 1991). The first two cervid centromeric satellite DNA monomers to be cloned (both 0.8 kb in length and from the Indian muntjac genome) demonstrated the presence of internal 31-bp, tandemly organized subrepeats that were homologous to the 31-bp subrepeat found in bovine 1.715 satellite DNA.…”

Comparative gene mapping in the species <i>Muntiacus muntja</i><i>c</i>

“…1981). Repetitive sequence satellite DNA is highly conserved, not only between the two muntjac species but in several other Artiodactvlae as well (Lima-de-Faria et al, 1984Bogenberger, 1985;Y uetal., 1986;Scherthanetal.. 1987;Scherthan, 1991). There appears to be a reduced amount of mid-and low-repetitive DNA in M. muntiacus, which may have evolved by repeated centric fusions and tandem transloca tions of the M. reevesi chromosomes, mediated by homologous recombination and subsequent loss of moderately complex repetitive DNA (Schmidtke et al.…”