Ernesto Capanna

• zoology
• Sapienza University of Rome

Natural populations of the house mouse Mus musculus domesticus show great diversity in chromosomal number due to the presence of chromosomal rearrangements, mainly Robertsonian translocations. Breeding between two populations with different chromosomal configurations generates subfertile or sterile hybrid individuals due to impaired meiotic develop...

The size and shape of the chromosomes, as well as the chromosomal domains that compose them, are determinants in the distribution and interaction between the bivalents within the nucleus of spermatocytes in prophase I of meiosis. Thus the nuclear architecture characteristic of the karyotype of a species can be modified by chromosomal changes such a...

The house mouse Mus musculus domesticus is characterized by more than 100 metacentric populations, due to the occurrence of Robertsonian (Rb) fusions, together with the standard all-telocentric karyotype (2n = 40). We examined G-banded karyotypes of 18 mice from 10 localities in Sicily and describe 3 new metacentric populations: 'Ragusa Ibla' (IRAG...

The subspecies Mus musculus domesticus has a very high chromosome number variability for the presence, in different populations, of different numbers of metacentric chromosomes. These metacentrics are derived by Robertsonian fusion, i.e. the joining of two acro/telocentrics at the centromeres. Since the discovery in 1969 by Alfred Gropp of the firs...

The interest for genome evolution started quite early during the academic career of prof. Maria Gabriella Manfredi Romanini (MGMR, as all her pupils were used to call her; she knew that, and she was pleased we were confidentially nicknaming her!). She taught Anthropology since 1964 while holding the course of Histology and Embryology for the degree...

The twentieth century saw the decline of interest toward museum collections and an increased support to 'experimental' and 'evolutionary' biology, implicitly recognising the opposite nature of the 'old' museum-based taxonomy. With few exceptions, such as those of Florence and Verona, Italian museums after World War II were pushed at the border of s...

The main objective of this research was the chromosomal characterization of the sigmodontine rodent Calomys hummelincki (Husson, 1960), which belongs to the Tribe Phyllotini. The distribution of C. hummelincki is restricted to a region of northern South America, comprising Venezuela, Aruba, Curaçao and probably the Colombian llanos and Guajira Peni...

Sono stati studiati i cromosomi di Barbastella barbastellus ed è stata eseguita l'analisi cariometrica. Il numero diploide è risultato, su cellule somatiche in cultura 2 n = 32. Il cariotipo è costituito da 9 coppie di grandi cromosomi metacentrici, 1 coppia di cromosomi metacentrici di piccole dimensioni ritenuti morfologicamente identici a cromos...

Histophotometric evaluation of the DNA content of the post-kinetic nuclei (lymphocytes) has been performed in 8 species of Palearctic Microchiroptera: Rhinolophus ferrumequinum, R. euryale, R. hipposideros, Miniopterus schreibersi, Pipistrellus savii, P. kuhli, Myotys myotis and M. capaccinii. The results obtained are compared with the known data (...

Chromosomal mechanisms involved in the evolution of the karyotype were examined in Chiroptera. In particular the Robertsonian process of centric fusion-fission was thoroughly studied. On the basis of karyological and morphological observations, the Authors aim to demonstrate that the Robertsonian change does not proceed in a single direction; it ju...

The karyotypes of six species of Mediterranean mullets have been studied: Mugil cephalus, Liza aurata, Liza saliens, Liza ramada, Chelon labrosus and Oedalechilus labeo. The diploid number in all these species is 2n=48. On the basis of the morphology of the karyotype, 3 cytotaxonomic groups are proposed: a) Mugil cephalus, all the chromosomes of wh...

Sono stati esaminati, con la tecnica delle culture dei tessuti, i cromosomi somatici di Rhinolophus ferrumequinum (Sehr.) e di Rhinolophus euryale Blasius.

In base ad una precisa analisi cariometrica, è stato definito il cariogramma di Miniopterus schreibersii (Natt. in Kuhl). II cariogramma comprende ventidue coppie di autosomi ed una coppia di eterocromosomi; delle ventidue coppie autosomiche, tre sono di cromosomi metacentrici, tra loro chiaramente differenziabili per la lunghezza media e la posizi...

È stato esaminato il cariotipo di due Chirotteri: Myotis (Myotis) myotis (Borkhausen) (vel oxignatus (Monticelli) e Myotis (Leuconoë) capaccinii (BONAPARTE).

In base alla analisi cariometrica, è stato definito il cariogramma di Pipistrellus kuhli (Natt. in Kuhl). Il cariogramma comprende 21 coppie di autosomi ed una coppia di eterocromosomi; delle 21 coppie autosomiche, tre sono di metacentrici grandi, una di piccoli metacentrici, 15 di acrocentrici, di cui una coppia mostra chiaramente una zona eterocr...

In base all'analisi cariometrica, è stato definito il cartogramma di Pipistrellus savii (Bonaparte). Il cariogramma comprende 21 coppie di autosomi ed una coppia di eterocromosomi; delle 21 coppie, tre sono di metacentrici grandi, una di piccoli metacentrici, 15 di acrocentrici, di cui una coppia mostra chiaramente una zona eterocromatica, 2 di cro...

The study of genome size (GS) and its variation is so fascinating to the scientific community because it constitutes the link between the present-day analytical and molecular studies of the genome and the old trunk of the holistic and synthetic view of the genome. The GS of several taxa vary over a broad range and do not correlate with the complexi...

The expansion of Mus musculus domesticus from its origin has been studied in detail. The coloni-zation routes and times depended on its commensal habits which favoured a rapid and recent dispersal, making it difficult to unravel the expansion pattern. The situation is still obscure in the central Mediterranean area. Mitochondrial D-loop was sequenc...

Abstract - This paper summarizes more than four decades of cetacean research data collected by the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano and, between 1986 and 2003, by the Centro Studi Cetacei of the Società Italiana di Scienze Naturali. It is the result of the collaboration among scientists of several Italian museums. A detailed analysis conce...

Size and shape changes in the skull of the genus Gerbillus were investigated using geometric morphometrics. Six species from Tunisia were studied (G. gerbillus, G. campestris, G. nanus, G. tarabuli, G. simoni and G. latastei). Statistical analyses of shape variability allowed us to discriminate three morphological groups which are congruent with th...

Although gerbils forms an important component of the mammalian fauna of arid and semi-arid area, the taxonomic and phylogenetic relationship within the species of the genus Gerbillus are still ambiguous. The present paper introduces findings based on the whole cytochrome b (1140 bp) mitochondrial genes of seven species (Gerbillus campestris, G. lat...

The range of the genus Talpa covers almost all Europe up to Western Asia. This genus has never been the object of comprehensive systematic studies using molecular and genetic techniques, such that the evolutionary relationships among species remain unclear. Talpa shows high levels of endemism, and the influence of past glaciation cycles on the dist...

The West European house mouse, Mus musculus domesticus, is a particularly suitable model to investigate the role of chromosomal rearrangements in reproductive isolation. In fact, it exhibits a broad range of chromosomal polymorphism due to Robertsonian (Rb) fusions leading to various types of contact zones between different chromosomal races. In th...

Darwin’s Origin of species was positively accepted immediately by the Italian zoologists. The first translation into Italian language, by Canestrini and Salimbeni, appeared in 1864. Overall, the immediacy of the translation of Darwin’s main books clearly states the interest of the Italian naturalists in his work. Darwin was a member of a great numb...

Following the discovery of the West Indies, philosophers of the XVI and XVII centuries came into contact with a particularly unexpected fauna which was considerably different from the documented animals at that time. These animals included the Xenarthra (the sloth, and armadillo) and Marsupialia. These new discoveries occurred during a period of cr...

Arvicanthis, the unstriped grass-rat, is a widespread genus occurring in many regions of Africa and is major pest in agricultural farmland. Despite its economic importance for developing countries, the taxonomy of the genus is stillin a chaotic state. We used univariate and multivariate morphometrics to investigate two species, A. abyssinicus and A...

The quantitative variation of a conserved region of the LINE-1 ORF2 sequence was determined in eight species and subspecies of the subgenus Mus (M. m. domesticus, M. m. musculus, M. m. castaneus, M. spicilegus, M. spretus, M. cervicolor, M. cookii, M. caroli) and five Robertsonian races of M. m. domesticus. No differences in LINE-1 ORF2 content wer...

We describe the chromosomal evolution of the metacentric populations of the house mouse, Mus musculus domesticus, which constitute the Robertsonian System of Aeolian Islands (Sicily, Italy). Eighty-nine specimens from all the seven islands that form the Archipelago were cytogenetically examined. The analysis shows the presence of 4 Rb races with a...

Grassi's entomological researches go back to his early years of university study, initially being concerned with agriculture pests. After working in Heidelberg, Grassi's interests turned to basic problems of entomology, such as the evolutionary origin of Miriapoda and Insecta, and termite caste determination. His first investigations into medical e...

Proceedings of the 5^th European Congress of Mammalogy - Siena, Italy, 21-26 September 2007 Part III [pp. 51-186] -- Rodents & Lagomorphs https://doi.org/10.4404/hystrix-18.0-4381

The house mouse, Mus musculus domesticus, exhibits a high level of chromosomal polymorphism because of the occurrence and fast fixation of Robertsonian fusions between telocentric chromosomes. For this reason, it has been considered a classical speciation model to analyse the role of the chromosomal changes in reproductive isolation. In this study,...

The genus Talpa is the most specious and widespread one in the family Talpidae. The existing karyological records are predominantly basic morphological descriptions. To further investigate the case in point, we performed a comparative cytogenetic study in the genus by comparing G- and C-chromosome banding and NOR patterns of the two European specie...

Molecular phylogenetic analyses suggest an emerging phylogeny for the extant Placentalia (eutherian) that radically departs from morphologically based constructions of the past. Placental mammals are partitioned into four supraordinal clades: Afrotheria, Xenarthra, Laurasiatheria, and Euarchontoglires. Afrotheria form an endemic African clade that...

Allozyme and morphometric variation was studied in two populations of moles, Talpa europaea and T. romana, in an area of sympatric occurrence (Palazzo, near Assisi, central Italy) located along the known parapatric contact boundary. The electrophoretic analysis revealed 36 moles characterized by a genome of T. europaea, and 29 moles with a genome o...

Size and shape changes in the skull of South American spiny rats Proechimys spp. were investigated using geometric morphometrics. Six species were studied (P. guairae, P. poliopus, P. trinitatis, P. canicollis, P. mincae and Proechimys sp.) using 12 populations from Venezuela and Colombia. Proechimys poliopus, P. guairae and Proechimys sp. have und...

Malaria is probably one of the oldest diseases, and it has been the scourge of populations in tropical and temperate-hot areas of the world since antiquity. It is also known by its French term, paludisme although the Italian name, malaria, more accurately describes the disease. The Italian term refers to mala aria, bad air, i.e., the miasmas evapor...

An extended survey of taxa belonging to two genera of Cricetomyinae (Cricetomys and Saccos- tomus), one Gerbillinae (Gerbilliscus), eight Murinae (Acomys, Aethomys, Arvicanthis, Lemniscomys, Mus (Nanno- mys), Mastomys, Grammomys, Stenocephalemys) and one Myoxidae (Graphiurus) was carried out as part of the EU programme "Staplerat" involving Ethiopi...

The European representatives of the subfamily Talpinae belong to the monophyletic genus Talpa. Five out of the nine species of Talpa occur in Western Europe. A wide central area is occupied by Talpa europaea, while the small sized Talpa caeca occurs in southern Europe. Three endemic species are restricted to the peripheral areas of the genus range...

Introduzione. Calomys é un genere di roditori sigmodontini che occupa habitat di prateria e savana del Sud America. Questo genere presenta 10 specie riconosciute tra le quali Calomys hummelincki, la cui distribuzione geografica é limitata al Venezuela, alla Colombia orientale e alle Antille Olandesi. Dati di filogenesi molecolare ottenuti da Salaza...

Topical literature and Web site databases provide genome sizes for ∼4,000 animal species, invertebrates and vertebrates, 330 of which are mammals. We provide the genome size for 67 mammalian species, including 51 never reported before. Knowledge of genome size facilitates sequencing projects. The data presented here encompassed 5 Metatheria (order...

In this study, we used SEM and TEM to investigate the ultrastructure of spermatozoa from the cauda epididymis of Talpa romana. For comparison, we also analysed spermatozoa from the cauda epididymis of T. europaea captured in the same area. The male gamete of T. romana has a flattened head with an elliptic profile, consisting of a large acrosome and...

The Robertsonian (Rb) system of Mus musculus domesticus in central Italy consists of three Rb races (CD, 2n = 22; CB, 2n = 22; ACR, 2n = 24), and additional Rb populations with new metacentrics have recently been reported. The aim of the present paper is to provide insight into the process of house mouse raciation in this area. Here we present new...

Thirty years after its identification, the model of chromosomal speciation in Mus musculus domesticus is reevaluated using the methods of population biology, molecular cytogenetics and functional genomics. Three main points are considered: (1) the structural predisposition of M. m. domesticus chromosomes to Robertsonian fusion; (2) the impediment o...

The path from genome to function is becoming shorter and shorter thanks to the flood of sequence data, advanced bioinformatics techniques and new approaches to study genome-wide expression profiling and protein molecules. Today, astonishing as it may seem, the challenge of a molecular understanding of very complex developmental and evolutionary pro...

The African rats of the genus Arvicanthis have been widely studied during recent years to clarify species boundaries and phylogenetic relationships. The wide chromosomal variability of the genus has been highlighted in several studies, with each accepted species characterised by its individual karyotypes and others being revealed as cryptic species...

This paper presents a case study of the chromosomal complement of 16 miceMus musculus domesticus Linnaeus, 1758 from the region near one of the most recent disastrous earthquakes in Italy (named Umbria-Marche 1997), with the aim of examining chromosomal variability among the mice from the seismically active zones. For the present investigation, the...

The African rats of the genus Arvicanthis have been widely studied during recent years to clarify species boundaries and phylogenetic relationships. The wide chromosomal variability of the genus has been highlighted in several studies, with each accepted species characterised by its individual karyotypes and others being revealed as cryptic species...

Aethomys is a common and widespread rodent genus in the African savannas and grasslands. However, its systematics and taxonomy are still unclear as no study has covered the entire range. In fact it might not be a monophyletic genus and perhaps should be split into two subgenera, Micaelamys and Aethomys. In this paper, we present findings based on t...

The gametogenetic activity of two syntopic populations of moles, Talpa romana and T. europaea (Mammalia, Insectívora, Talpidae), was compared. The testes and the ovaries of 42 specimens of T. romana and of 41 specimens of T. europaea were his‐tologically characterised. Male gametogenetic activity was shown by the presence of spermatozoa in the epid...

Keywords:Robertsonian chromosome;satellite DNA;house-mouse

Chromosome banding analysis (G- and C- bands) of two species of Lemniscomys from Tanzania, Lemniscomys zebra and Lemniscomys rosalia, and of a third species from Benin, Lemniscomys striatus was carried out to trace the pattern of chromosomal evolution of the genus. The G-banding pattern comparison makes it possible to identify chromosomal rearrange...

The contact zone between the Ancarano (ACR; 2n = 24) and Cittaducale (CD; 2n = 22) races of Mus musculus domesticus was studied. We used chromosomes and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences of the control region as genetic markers to detect introgression between races. In total, 76 mice were trapped at 17 localities. Cytogenetic analysis was perform...

We studied the organization of telomeric, major and minor satellite DNA sequences located in the pericentromeric regions of mouse telocentric and Robertsonian metacentric chromosomes by high-resolution fluorescence in situ hybridization. Molecular data have already proved that in telocentrics, from the physical chromosome end, telomeric sequences a...

A chromosome study of unstriped grass rats of the genus Arvicanthis (Rodentia, Murinae) in western and central Africa is presented. The observations extend the data available to 242 specimens from 59 localities. All individuals karyotyped belong to four karyotypic forms, or cytotypes, earlier described as ANI-1, ANI-2, ANI-3, and ANI-4 and are pres...

Chiasma number and distribution were analysed in male house mice from a karyotypic hybrid zone between the CD race (2n = 22) and the standard race (2n = 40) located in central Italy. Chiasma repatterning occurs across the transect. The overall trend produces a diminution of chiasmata in the mice with CD chromosomal background. The progressive reduc...

The mammalian cell nucleus consists of numerous compartments involved in the regular unfolding of processes such as DNA replication and transcription, RNA maturation, protein synthesis and cell division. Knowledge is increasing of the relationships between high-order levels of chromatin organization and its spatial organization, and of how these re...

In a sample of the genus Tatera Lataste 1882 from West Africa (Benin and Burkina Faso), we analyzed the cranial and dental morphology and the karyo-type (G, R, C and NOR banding). The cranial morphology confirms the attribution of this sample to Tatera kempi Wroughton 1906. An analysis of the dental morphology was also performed but it seems not to...

Current understanding of heterochromatin, thanks to molecular data, focuses on its performing several functions in evolution and development. Heterochromatin shows characteristic distribution patterns in karyotypes and contributes to the broad scattering of genome sizes through biological taxa. Heterochromatin remains compacted and thus different f...

Seveso is a town (40,000 inhabitants) 16 km north of Milan, which from 10 July 1976 became synonymous with the chemically induced ecological catastrophe because of the large number of people affected by dioxin exposure and of the large area involved. The most polluted area (about 43 ha) was artificially reconstructed and transformed into a wood com...

The rodent fauna of Tanzanian savannahs is poorly known. For this reason, the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei sponsored a project together with the Biology Department of Antwerp and the Sokoine University of Agriculture (Morogoro, Tanzania) on Eastern African rodents. The aim was to study the taxonomy and systematics of rodents of these areas and th...

In mammals, Robertsonian (Rb) translocation (the joining of two telo/acrocentric chromosomes at their centromere to form a metacentric) is the most effective process in chromosomal evolution leading to speciation; its occurrence also affects human health (through the induction of trisomies) and the fertility of farm animals. To understand the mecha...

In mammals, Robertsonian (Rb) translocation (the joining of two telo/acrocentric chromosomes at their centromere to form a metacentric) is the most effective process in chromosomal evolution leading to speciation; its occurrence also affects human health (through the induction of trisomies) and the fertility of farm animals. To understand the mecha...

Litter size, anaphase I nondisjunction and X-Y dissociation at metaphase I were studied in homozygous and heterozygous house mice from a central Italian chromosomal hybrid zone between the CD (2n=22) race and the standard race (2n=40). We also observed the segregation of the two chromosomal forms (Robertsonian and non-Robertsonian) in male and fema...

The female gonads of moles (genus Talpa) are composed of a cortex, functioning as an ovary, and a medulla, which is structurally similar to that of the testis. In the female reproductive apparatus there are masculine glandular annexes, such as a bilobate prostate, two Cowper glands, and a penis-like clitoris. All these features have recently led to...

The female gonads of moles (genus Talpa) are composed of a cortex, functioning as an ovary, and a medulla, which is structurally similar to that of the testis. In the female reproductive apparatus there are masculine glandular annexes, such as a bilobate prostate, two Cowper glands, and a penis-like clitoris. All these features have recently led to...

The aim of the present study was to assess the degree of genetic variation and divergence among six populations of Calomys hummelincki, a phyllotine rodent distributed in northern South America. With this information we will try to evaluate the two hypotheses of possible colonization and differentiation of this group of rodents postulated by Baskin...

When the organising committee of the thirteenth chromosome conference asked me to prepare the opening lecture, I realised that it would be the last one this century. In fact the next one will be held at the beginning of the third millennium A.D., in 2001. While thinking along these lines it occurred to me just how important this century has been in...

The scientific work of Lazzaro Spallanzani is outlined, with emphasis on the elements of originality in his introduction of the experimental method in biology. Particular stress is placed on Spallanzani's contribution to solving the Theoria Generationis, from the problems connected with the spontaneous generation of living creatures to those of nat...

A temporal analysis of a hybrid zone between chromosomal races of Mus musculus domesticus was performed to evaluate its dynamics over a 20-year period. The transect chosen was one previously analysed by Spirito et al. (1980) across the hycbrid zone between the chromosomal race CD 2n=22 (central Italy) and the surrounding populations with standard k...

A new arrangement for keeping moles in captivity was designed by combining newly conceived units and different types of structures previously described by other authors. The structure is especially devoted to long term studies, such as those on activity patterns and reproductive and social behaviours. A simple and economic system for automatic reco...

The African grass rat, Arvicanthis sp., from Benin shows sex‐chromosome polymorphism for the presence in the karyotype of three X‐chromosome forms: subtelocentric (Xst), submetacentric (Xsm), and metacentric (Xm). Here we report statistically significant differences of diploid genome size (g.s.) among individuals, from 6.22 ± 0.06 pg to 6.80 ± 0.10...

The Ethiopian Myomys ‐ Stenocephalemys complex has long constituted a taxonomic and systematic puzzle. The species occur at different altitudes, from 1000 up to 4300 m a.s.l., and show remarkable adaptations to high altitude habitats. The four species forming the complex, M. albipes, M. ruppi, S. albocaudata and S. griseicauda, are all endemic to t...

The rodent genus Proechimys has undergone rapid chromosomal speciation during late Pleistocene, resulting in several species and subspecies occurring in Venezuela. Here we present hypotheses for patterns of morphometric change in the skull based upon genetic relationships between two species of the "guairae" complex (P. guairae and Proechimys sp.)...

Character displacement is investigated in sympatric populations of two related species of European moles, Talpa europaea and T. romona, along the zone of parapatric contact in Central Italy. Morphological variation of the two species is analysed through the geometric morphometrics of skulls by comparing sympatric to allopatric populations. The morp...

Chromosome rearrangements are often an important factor in the origin of new species. They have a potential to affect the fitness of hybrids, and so to stop gene flow and strengthen genetic divergence between intraspecific chromosomal races. Debate still rages over which model best explains chromosomal speciation, the main difficulty being the lack...