TY - JOUR
T1 - Genes on B chromosomes of vertebrates
AU - Makunin, Alexey I.
AU - Dementyeva, Polina V.
AU - Graphodatsky, Alexander S.
AU - Volobouev, Vitaly T.
AU - Kukekova, Anna V.
AU - Trifonov, Vladimir A.
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful to Jennifer L. Johnson for help with figure preparation and critical reading of the manuscript and Jessica P. Hekman for editing the manuscript. This work was supported by the Russian Foundation of Basic Research (RFBR № 12-04-00659-а), by a grant of Russian Academy of Sciences (Molecular and Cellular Biology) and Campus Research Board of the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Makunin et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Background: There is a growing body of evidence that B chromosomes, once regarded as totally heterochromatic and genetically inert, harbor multiple segmental duplications containing clusters of ribosomal RNA genes, processed pseudogenes and protein-coding genes. Application of novel molecular approaches further supports complex composition and possible phenotypic effects of B chromosomes. Results: Here we review recent findings of gene-carrying genomic segments on B chromosomes from different vertebrate groups. We demonstrate that the genetic content of B chromosomes is highly heterogeneous and some B chromosomes contain multiple large duplications derived from various chromosomes of the standard karyotype. Although B chromosomes seem to be mostly homologous to each other within a species, their genetic content differs between species. There are indications that some genomic regions are more likely to be located on B chromosomes. Conclusions: The discovery of multiple autosomal genes on B chromosomes opens a new discussion about their possible effects ranging from sex determination to fitness and adaptation, their complex interactions with host genome and role in evolution.
AB - Background: There is a growing body of evidence that B chromosomes, once regarded as totally heterochromatic and genetically inert, harbor multiple segmental duplications containing clusters of ribosomal RNA genes, processed pseudogenes and protein-coding genes. Application of novel molecular approaches further supports complex composition and possible phenotypic effects of B chromosomes. Results: Here we review recent findings of gene-carrying genomic segments on B chromosomes from different vertebrate groups. We demonstrate that the genetic content of B chromosomes is highly heterogeneous and some B chromosomes contain multiple large duplications derived from various chromosomes of the standard karyotype. Although B chromosomes seem to be mostly homologous to each other within a species, their genetic content differs between species. There are indications that some genomic regions are more likely to be located on B chromosomes. Conclusions: The discovery of multiple autosomal genes on B chromosomes opens a new discussion about their possible effects ranging from sex determination to fitness and adaptation, their complex interactions with host genome and role in evolution.
KW - Bchromosomes
KW - Evolution of genomes
KW - Proto-oncogenes
KW - Segmental duplication
KW - Vertebrates
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U2 - 10.1186/s13039-014-0099-y
DO - 10.1186/s13039-014-0099-y
M3 - Review article
C2 - 25538793
AN - SCOPUS:84929300861
VL - 7
JO - Molecular Cytogenetics
JF - Molecular Cytogenetics
SN - 1755-8166
IS - 1
M1 - 99
ER -