Rodent common fragile sites: Are they conserved? Evidence from mouse and rat

Nineteen fragile sites induced by aphidicolin in lymphocyte cultures from the laboratory mouse are documented. These sites are compared with previously described fragile sites induced in mouse fibroblast systems, and then with those reported on chromosomes which have been evolutionarily conserved between the mouse and the laboratory rat. Of a total of 38 fragile sites thus far identified in mouse fibroblasts and lymphocytes, only 4 sites are common to the two cell types; 34 sites show no correspondence of loci. The reason for this discrepancy is unclear, but it is possible that these data may indicate some degree of tissue specificity of fragile site expression in the mouse. Eight autosomes in the mouse and rat retain straightforward and nearly complete banding homology. To test the hypothesis that fragile sites are conserved between the two species, we compared these eight autosomes with regard to number and distribution of fragile site loci. A total of 30 fragile sites is distributed over the conserved chromosomes. Only 4 (possibly 5) are common to both species; 18 are found in the rat but not the mouse, and 4 are found in the mouse but not the rat. Of the 4 shared sites, notable differences in frequency of expression exist. Our comparisons show that: (1) a small numer of fragile sites is conserved; (2) a large number of fragile sites is not conserved, and (3) some sites which are conserved are quite different in the frequency at which they are expressed in the two species, indicating that the sites themselves may have undergone evolutionary change. The chromosomes compared between mouse and rat are widely conserved among murid rodents and thereby offer further opportunities to investigate fragile site phenomena in diverse species.