Systematic relationships within the Microtus arvalis (Rodentia: Cricetidae) group in Iran,inferred from cytogenetic analyses |
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| Authors: | Ahmad Mahmoudi Jan Zima Boris Kryštufek Jamshid Darvish Mansour Aliabadian |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran;2. Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Brno, Czech Republic;3. Slovenian Museum of Natural History, Ljubljana, Slovenia;4. Rodentology Research Department, Institute of Applied Zoology, Faculty of Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran;5. Zoological Innovations Research Department, Institute of Applied Zoology, Faculty of Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran |
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| Abstract: | The distribution of C-heterochromatin and nucleolar organizer regions (NORs) was studied in three species of voles of the Microtus arvalis group in Iran: M. mystacinus, M. kermanensis, and M. transcaspicus. The C-banding pattern and NORs distribution were similar in M. mystacinus and M. kermanensis suggesting taxonomic proximity of these two species. At the same time, the karyotypes of M. mystacinus from Iran were different in C-banding pattern from the complements of conspecific 54-chromosome voles from Europe and other regions of Asia. The most distinct difference was in size of the distal C-positive block of heterochromatin on the X chromosome. In this respect M. mystacinus from Iran and M. kermanensis resembled M. transcaspicus. Small size of the distal C-positive heterochromatic block may be ancestral whereas larger size is derived. The X chromosome of M. transcaspicus can be derived from that of M. mystacinus and M. kermanensis by a large inversion or centromeric shift. |
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| Keywords: | karyotype chromosome C-banding NORs taxonomy |
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