Item – Theses Canada

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OCLC number
46536240
Author
Lee, Charles,1969-
Title
Tandemly repetitive DNA in the karyotypic and phylogenetic evolution of Cervidae species.
Degree
M. Sc. -- University of Alberta, 1993
Publisher
Ottawa : National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1994.
Description
2 microfiches.
Notes
Includes bibliographical references.
Abstract
This thesis employs the use of tandemly repetitive DNA in eclucidating the karyotypic and phylogenetic evolution of several deer species in the family, Cervidae. The first study (Chapter II) focuses on the two closely related deer species which exhibit extremely different karyotypes: the Indian muntjac (Muntiacus muntjak vaginalis), 2n = 6 chromosomes in females and 2n = 7 chromosomes in males and the Chinese muntjac (Muntacus reevesi), 2n = 46 chromosomes. It has been suggested that a series of tandem chromosome fusions of ancestral Chinese muntjac-like chromosomes may have occurred in the past to produce the large chromosomes seen in the Indian muntjac karyotype. During this investigation, the tandemly arranged human telomeric DNA sequence, (TTAGGG), which has been found to be highly conserved in the telomeres of mammalian species, was localized by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) on the metaphase chromosomes of the Indian and Chinese muntjac and the Canadian woodland caribou (2n = 70). As expected, positive hybridization signals were observed at the termini of almost every chromosome in all three deer species. In the second study (Chapter III), the phylogenetic relationship of the Canadian woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) in the Cervidae family was examined. A 991 bp tandemly repeated centromeric DNA sequence (Rt-Pst3) was isolated and found to be well conserved in the genomes of the several deer species studied. The results of register size (repeat until size amplification), hybridization intensity, and DNA sequence homology all suggest that the Canadian woodland caribou, roe deer, white-tailed deer, and mule deer are more closely related to each other than to either the North American elk or the Asian muntjacs. DNA sequencing data demonstrate how the 991 bp repeat unit of the woodland caribou may have been derived from a more ancestral monomer unit of $\sim$800 bp. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
ISBN
0315881615
9780315881617