Determination of cytogenetic markers for biological monitoring in coypu (Myocastor coypu)

Abstract

Coypus (Myocastor coypu) are fur-bearing herbivores native to South America (Gosling & Berker, 1991). In European countries, coypus have been bred since the 1920s (Carter & Leonard, 2002). In Poland, coypu breeding experienced a decline in the late 1990s and the number of animals began to fall quickly. Although coypu pelts and meat are valuable, there was no demand for these products (Kowalska & Niedbała, 2014). Furthermore, coypu breeding was adversely affected by environmental movement campaigns and rising farm maintenance costs. For this reason, coypus were included in a genetic resources conservation program for native breeds, which is aimed to preserve and increase population size while maintaining genetic variation in the coypu (http://www.bioro znoro dnosc.izoo.krakow. pl). The loss of interest in the breeding of this species did not prevent researchers from conducting numerous studies, including the determination of genetic diversity in the populations and karyotype characterization using available cytogenetic techniques (Kaplanova et al., 2012). In the coypu karyotype (2n = 42), all the autosomes are bi-armed: 32 are metacentric and 8 are submetacentric. The X sex chromosome is metacentric and the Y is the smallest chromosome of

The Functional and Application Possibilities of Starch/Chitosan Polymer Composites Modified by Graphene Oxide

“…This instability is a factor generating the formation of subsequent mutations that can lead to developmental defects, reproductive disorders, neoplastic transformation or bioaccumulation in the food chain [ 56 ]. Detection of DNA damage at the single-cell level is of great importance in fields such as toxicology, pharmacy, ecotoxicology, animal and human nutrition and environmental biomonitoring [ 57 , 58 ]. One tool for assessing the toxicity of an agent is the comet assay.…”

Chromosomal Instability at Fragile Sites in Blue Foxes, Silver Foxes, and Their Interspecific Hybrids

“…Cytogenetically, FS are sites where the replication process was disrupted and the resulting errors were not corrected by repair mechanisms, or were repaired incorrectly. FS have retained evolutionary conservatism in all animals [25][26][27][28]. The number of spontaneous fragile sites varies from 1 to 10 in young, healthy animals which are not exposed to any negative mutagenic or carcinogenic environmental factors.…”