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Publications (82)
Introduction: Türkiye houses rich freshwater ichthyofauna with many endemic species. This diversity, however, poses taxonomic challenges and leads to ongoing re-evaluations of various fish genera and species. Here, we sought to analyse the karyotype and other chromosomal characteristics of the newly erected monotypic genus Turcichondrostoma to prod...
Regrettably, in November 2024 we received the sad news of the sudden passing of Prof. Petr Rab, a pioneering researcher in the field of fish cytogenetics. His contributions to the field of cytogenetics, particularly on freshwater fish cytogenetics, are unparalleled.
This obituary was written with heartbreaking sadness and immense admiration for his...
Background
Java combtail fish Belontia hasselti (Cuvier, 1831), a member of the Osphronemidae family, inhabits lakes and rivers throughout Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka. Previous cytogenetic research revealed it possesses a diploid chromosome number of 48 chromosomes with a female-heterogametic ZZ/ZW sex chromosome system, where the W chromosome is...
Background/Objectives: Arachnids are a megadiverse arthropod group. The present study investigated the chromosomes of pedipalpid tetrapulmonates (orders Amblypygi, Thelyphonida, Schizomida) and two arachnid orders of uncertain phylogenetic placement, Ricinulei and Solifugae, to reconstruct their karyotype evolution. Except for amblypygids, the cyto...
Multiple sex chromosomes usually arise from chromosomal rearrangements which involve ancestral sex chromosomes. There is a fundamental condition to be met for their long-term fixation: the meiosis must function, leading to the stability of the emerged system, mainly concerning the segregation of the sex multivalent. Here, we sought to analyze the d...
Sex chromosomes of teleost fishes often have low levels of differentiation and undergo frequent turnovers. Annual Nothobranchius killifishes comprise representatives with male-heterogametic XY or X1X2Y sex chromosome systems, scattered across their phylogeny, nested within species lacking cytologically detectable sex chromosomes. They thus provide...
Satellite DNA (satDNA) is a rapidly evolving class of tandem repeats, with some monomers being involved in centromere organization and function. To identify repeats associated with (peri)centromeric regions, we investigated satDNA across Southern and Coastal clades of African annual killifishes of the genus Nothobranchius. Molecular cytogenetic and...
Meiosis is a conservative process in all sexual organisms which ensures fertility and is central for producing genetic diversity by recombination and random segregation of parental chromosomes. Yet unexplored mechanisms may disrupt it and cause loss of sex followed by the emergence of clonal modes of reproduction. Interspecific hybridization is the...
The Neotropical monophyletic catfish genus Harttia represents an excellent model to study karyotype and sex chromosome evolution in teleosts. Its species split into three phylogenetic clades distributed along the Brazilian territory and they differ widely in karyotype traits, including the presence of standard or multiple sex chromosome systems in...
Using African annual killifishes of the genus Nothobranchius from temporary savannah pools with rapid karyotype and sex chromosome evolution, we analysed the chromosomal distribution of telomeric (TTAGGG)n repeat and Nfu‐SatC satellite DNA (satDNA; isolated from Nothobranchius furzeri) in 15 species across the Nothobranchius killifish phylogeny, an...
The remarkable fish biodiversity encompasses also great sex chromosome variability. Harttia catfish belong to Neotropical models for karyotype and sex chromosome research. Some species possess one of the three male-heterogametic sex chromosome systems, XY, X1X2Y or XY1Y2, while other members of the genus have yet uncharacterized modes of sex determ...
There is a growing need of alternative experimental models that avoid or minimize the use of animals due to ethical, economical, and scientific reasons. Surprisingly, the stable embryonic cell lines representing Nothobranchius spp., emerging vertebrate models in aging research, regenerative medicine, ecotoxicology, or genomics, have been not derive...
Repetitive DNA may have significant impact on genome evolution. African annual killifishes of the genus Nothobranchius (Teleostei: Nothobranchiidae), which has adapted to temporary water pools in African savannahs, possess genomes with high repeat content. They are also characterized by rapid karyotype and sex chromosome evolution but the role of g...
Satellite DNA (satDNA) is rapidly evolving class of tandem repeats with some motifs being involved in centromere organization and function. Rapid co-evolution of centromeric satDNA and associated proteins has been mostly attributed to the so-called centromere drive. To identify repeats associated with centromeric regions and test for the role of me...
The karyotype differentiation of the twelve known members of the Nothobranchius ugandensis Wildekamp, 1994 species group is reviewed and the karyotype composition of seven of its species is described herein for the first time using a conventional cytogenetic protocol. Changes in the architecture of eukaryotic genomes often have a major impact on pr...
Rineloricaria is the most diverse genus within the freshwater fish subfamily Loricariinae, and it is widely distributed in the Neotropical region. Despite limited cytogenetic data, records from southern and south‐eastern Brazil suggest a high rate of chromosomal rearrangements in this genus, mirrored in remarkable inter‐ and intraspecific karyotype...
Homomorphic sex chromosomes and their turnover are common in teleosts. We investigated the evolution of nascent sex chromosomes in several populations of two sister species of African annual killifishes, Nothobranchius furzeri and N. kadleci, focusing on their under-studied repetitive landscape. We combined bioinformatic analyses of the repeatome w...
Repetitive DNA represents an important driver of sex chromosome differentiation. Yet, repetitive sequences tend to be misrepresented or overlooked in genomic studies. We analysed repetitive DNA landscape of sex chromosomes in several populations of a turquoise killifish Nothobranchius furzeri and its sister species N. kadleci (Teleostei: Nothobranc...
Teleost fishes exhibit a breath-taking diversity of sex determination and differentiation mechanisms. They encompass at least nine sex chromosome systems with often low degree of differentiation, high rate of inter- and intra-specific variability, and frequent turnovers. Nevertheless, several mainly female heterogametic systems at an advanced stage...
Whip spiders (Amblypygi) represent an ancient order of tetrapulmonate arachnids with a low diversity. Their cytogenetic data are confined to only a few reports. Here, we analyzed the family Charinidae, a lineage almost at the base of the amblypygids, providing an insight into the ancestral traits and basic trajectories of amblypygid karyotype evolu...
Simple Summary
Fishes represent a useful model for evolutionary studies, given their diversity of species and habitats. In this study, we investigate the chromosomes of three unexplored Harttia fish species from the Amazonian region and compare the obtained data with previous analyses. Our data reveal that both Harttia dissidens and Harttia sp. 3 e...
Sex chromosomes are generally derived from a pair of classical type-A chromosomes, and relatively few alternative models have been proposed up to now.¹,² B chromosomes (Bs) are supernumerary and dispensable chromosomes with non-Mendelian inheritance found in many plant and animal species³,⁴ that have often been considered as selfish genetic element...
Despite decades of cytogenetic and genomic research of dynamic sex chromosome evolution in teleost fishes, multiple sex chromosomes have been largely neglected. In this review, we compiled available data on teleost multiple sex chromosomes, identified major trends in their evolution and suggest further trajectories in their investigation. In a comp...
The whip spider (Amblypygi) genus Paraphrynus Moreno, 1940 is distributed from the southern U.S.A. to the Greater Antilles and northern South America. Mexico is the diversity hotspot of the genus where many morphologically similar species occur, often in close geographical proximity. The present contribution aimed to resolve the diversity and phylo...
Spiders are an intriguing model to analyse sex chromosome evolution because of their peculiar multiple X chromosome systems. Y chromosomes were considered rare in this group, arising after neo-sex chromosome formation by X chromosome-autosome rearrangements. However, recent findings suggest that Y chromosomes are more common in spiders than previou...
The bighead carps of the genus Hypophthalmichthys (H. molitrix and H. nobilis) are important aquaculture species. They were subjected to extensive multidisciplinary research, but with cytogenetics confined to conventional protocols only. Here, we employed Giemsa-/C-/CMA3- stainings and chromosomal mapping of multigene families and telomeric repeats...
Lebiasinidae is a Neotropical freshwater family widely distributed throughout South and Central America. Due to their often very small body size, Lebiasinidae species are cytogenetically challenging and hence largely underexplored. However, the available but limited karyotype data already suggested a high interspecific variability in the diploid ch...
Lebiasinidae is a small fish family composed by miniature to small-sized fishes with few cytogenetic data (most of them limited to descriptions of diploid chromosome numbers), thus preventing any evolutionary comparative studies at the chromosomal level. In the present study, we are providing, the first cytogenetic data for the red spotted tetra, C...
Arowanas (Osteoglossinae) are charismatic freshwater fishes with six species and two genera (Osteoglossum and Scleropages) distributed in South America, Asia, and Australia. In an attempt to provide a better assessment of the processes shaping their evolution, we employed a set of cytogenetic and genomic approaches, including i) molecular cytogenet...
Although fishes have traditionally been the subject of comparative evolutionary studies, few reports have concentrated on the application of multipronged modern molecular cytogenetic techniques (such as comparative genomic hybridization = CGH and whole chromosome painting = WCP) to analyze deeper the karyotype evolution of specific groups, especial...
Oplegnathus fasciatus and O. punctatus (Teleostei: Centrarchiformes: Oplegnathidae), are commercially important rocky reef fishes, endemic to East Asia. Both species present an X1X2Y sex chromosome system. Here, we investigated the evolutionary forces behind the origin and differentiation of these sex chromosomes, with the aim to elucidate whether...
Osteoglossiformes represents one of the most ancestral teleost lineages, currently widespread over almost all continents, except for Antarctica. However, data involving advanced molecular cytogenetics or comparative genomics are yet largely limited for this fish group. Therefore, the present investigations focus on the osteoglossiform family Arapai...
List of all SNP data generated by DArTseq.
FreqHomRef represents frequency of homozygotes for reference allele (more common major allele), FreqHomSnp represents frequency of homozygotes for SNP allele (less common minor allele), and FreqHets represents frequency of heterozygotes
(CSV)
Detailed protocol for chromosomal obtainment in Arapaimidae fishes.
(DOCX)
Notopteridae (Teleostei, Osteoglossiformes) represents an old fish lineage with ten currently recognized species distributed in African and Southeastern Asian rivers. Their karyotype structures and diploid numbers remained conserved over long evolutionary periods, since African and Asian lineages diverged approximately 120 Mya. However, a significa...
Purpose of Review
Fishes exhibit the greatest biodiversity among extant vertebrates. In fact, about 34,000 fish species are currently estimated, of which ~ 25% are living in Neotropical freshwaters. Currently, several leading-edge studies using molecular biology procedures have largely contributed to the investigation of the fish genomic architectu...
Background
Polyploidy, although still poorly explored, represents an important evolutionary event in several cyprinid clades. Herein, Catlocarpio siamensis and Probarbus jullieni - representatives of the paleotetraploid tribe Probarbini, were characterized both by conventional and molecular cytogenetic methods.
Results
Alike most other paleotetrap...
Polyploidization has played an important role in the evolution of vertebrates, particularly at the base of Teleostei–an enormously successful ray-finned fish group with additional genome doublings on lower taxonomic levels. The investigation of post-polyploid genome dynamics might provide important clues about the evolution and ecology of respectiv...
FISH with 5S rDNA and U2 snDNA probes in the rest of examined botiid species.
U2 snDNA (red, arrows) and 5S rDNA (green, arrowheads) probes (B,F,H) or a single U2 snDNA (red, arrows) probe (A,C,D,E,G) mapped on (A) B. almorhae, (B) Ch. macracanthus, (C) L. elongata, (D) L. guilinensis, (E) P. fasciatus, (F) S. pulchra, (G) S. superciliaris, (H) S....
PNA FISH with telomeric probe in the rest of examined botiid species.
(A) B. udomritthiruji, (B) S. pulchra, (C) S. superciliaris, (D) S. zebra, (E) Y. lecontei. For better contrast, pictures were pseudocoloured in green (telomeric repeat probe) and red (DAPI). For better distinction between individual chromosomes, we included also the separate ima...
Selected sequential experiments clarifying conjugated or independent location of distinct cytogenetic markers.
Metaphases are arranged sequentially in Ch. macracanthus (A,D), L. elongata (B,E), L. guilinensis (C,F), L. microphthalma (G,I) and S. superciliaris (H,J) after CMA3/DAPI staining (D,E,F,I,J) and corresponding dual-colour FISH with 28S rDN...
Karyotype and mitotic chromosomes of B. dario after different cytogenetic protocols.
(A) Karyotype arranged from Giemsa-stained chromosomes, (B) CMA3/DAPI staining. (C) Dual-colour FISH with 28S rDNA (red, arrows) and 5S rDNA (green, arrowheads) probes. (D) Uni-colour FISH with U2 snDNA (red, arrows) probe. (E) PNA FISH with telomeric probe. Due to...
CMA3/DAPI staining in the rest of examined botiid species.
(A) B. udomritthiruji, (B) L. elongata, (C) P. fasciatus, (D) S. superciliaris, (E) S. zebra, (F) Y. lecontei. For better contrast, pictures were pseudocoloured in red (for CMA3) and green (for DAPI). Open arrows indicate CMA3-positive sites. The metaphase spread of S. superciliaris (D) is...
Dual-colour (5S/45S) rDNA FISH in the rest of examined botiid species.
28S rDNA (red, arrows) and 5S rDNA (green, arrowheads) probes mapped on (A) L. elongata, (B) L. microphthalma, (C) S. superciliaris, (D) S. zebra, (E) Y. lecontei. Chromosomes were counterstained with DAPI (blue). Note the significant spreading of 5S rDNA sites in Y. lecontei (E...
The Erythrinidae family (Teleostei: Characiformes) is a small Neotropical fish group with a wide distribution throughout South America, where Hoplias malabaricus corresponds to the most widespread and cytogenetically studied taxon. This species possesses significant genetic variation, as well as huge karyotype diversity among populations, as reflec...
The Neotropical fish, Hoplias malabaricus, is one of the most cytogenetically studied fish taxon with seven distinct karyomorphs (A–G) comprising varying degrees of sex chromosome differentiation, ranging from homomorphic to highly differentiated simple and multiple sex chromosomes. Therefore, this fish offers a unique opportunity to track evolutio...
O peixe Hoplias malabaricus (Characiformes, Erythrinidae) é caracterizado por uma ampla diversidade cariotípica, com uma ampla variação em seus números diploides e tipos cromossômicos, incluindo distintos sistemas de cromossomos sexuais entre seus cariomorfos. Até o presente momento, três sistemas XY [um altamente diferenciado (Cariomorfo B) e outr...
Fishes exhibit the greatest diversity of species among vertebrates, offering a number of relevant models for genetic and evolutionary studies. The investigation of sex chromosome differentiation is a very active and striking research area of fish cytogenetics, as fishes represent one of the most vital model groups. Neotropical fish species show an...
The main objectives of this study were to test: (1) whether the W-chromosome differentiation matches to species' evolutionary divergence (phylogenetic concordance) and (2) whether sex chromosomes share a common ancestor within a congeneric group. The monophyletic genus Triportheus (Characiformes, Triportheidae) was the model group for this study. A...
One of the most efficient mechanisms to keep animal lineages separate is a difference in ploidy level (number of whole genome copies), since hybrid offspring from parents with different ploidy level are functionally sterile. In the freshwater fish family Botiidae, ploidy difference has been held responsible for the separation of its two subfamilies...
Background:
The ability to eliminate a parental genome from a eukaryotic germ cell is a phenomenon observed mostly in hybrid organisms displaying an alternative propagation to sexual reproduction. For most taxa, the underlying cellular pathways and timing of the elimination process is only poorly understood. In the water frog hybrid Pelophylax esc...
Background:
Loaches of the family Nemacheilidae are one of the most speciose elements of Palearctic freshwater ichthyofauna and have undergone rapid ecological adaptations and colonizations. Their cytotaxonomy is largely unexplored; with the impact of cytogenetical changes on this evolutionary diversification still unknown. An extensive cytogeneti...
One of the most efficient mechanisms to keep animal lineages separate is a difference in ploidy level, since hybrid offspring from parents with different ploidy level are generally sterile. In the freshwater fish family Botiidae, ploidy difference has been held responsible for the separation of its two subfamilies, the tetraploid Botiinae and the d...
We applied comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) and genomic in situ hybridization (GISH) to examine genomes of artificially produced sturgeon hybrids between sterlet, Acipenser ruthenus female (∼120 chromosomes) or Russian sturgeon, A. gueldenstaedtii female (∼240 chromosomes) and a spontaneous triploid Siberian sturgeon A. baerii male (∼360 chr...
Sympatric species pairs are particularly common in freshwater fishes associated with postglacial lakes in northern temperate environments. The nature of divergences between co-occurring sympatric species, factors contributing to reproductive isolation and modes of genome evolution is a much debated topic in evolutionary biology addressed by various...
