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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Christine Harrison FRCPath FMedSci
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Comparative mapping studies of X-linked genes in mammals have provided insights into the evolution of the X chromosome. Many reptiles including the American alligator, Alligator mississippiensis, do not appear to possess heteromorphic sex chromosomes, and sex is determined by the incubation temperature of the egg during embryonic development. Mapping of homologues of mammalian X-linked genes in reptiles could lead to a greater understanding of the evolution of vertebrate sex chromosomes. One of the genes used in the mammalian mapping studies was ZFX, an X-linked copy of the human ZFY gene which was originally isolated as a candidate for the mammalian testis-determining factor (TDF). ZFX is X-linked in eutherians, but maps to two autosomal locations in marsupials and monotremes, close to other genes associated with the eutherian X. The alligator homologue of the ZFY/ZFX genes, Zfc, has been isolated and described previously. A detailed karyotype of A. mississippiensis is presented, together with chromosomal in situ hybridisation data localising the Zfc gene to chromosome 3. Further chromosomal mapping studies using eutherian X-linked genes may reveal conserved chromosomal regions in the alligator that have become part of the eutherian X chromosome during evolution.
Author(s): Valleley EMA, Harrison CJ, Cook Y, Ferguson MWJ, Sharpe PT
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Chromosoma
Year: 1994
Volume: 103
Issue: 7
Pages: 502-507
Print publication date: 01/12/1994
ISSN (print): 0009-5915
ISSN (electronic): 1432-0886
Publisher: Springer
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00337388
DOI: 10.1007/BF00337388
Notes: Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Germany
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