Conserved Vertebrate Chromosome Segments in the Large Salamander Genome

Corresponding author: S. Randal Voss, Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523., srvoss{at}lamar.colostate.edu (E-mail)

Communicating editor: N. A. JENKINS

Urodele amphibians (salamanders) are important models for embryological, physiological, and natural history research and are also a biomedically important group because they are the only vertebrates capable of regenerating entire organ systems. To enhance the utility of salamanders for biomedical research and for understanding genome evolution, genetic linkage analysis was used to identify chromosome segments that are homologous between ambystomatid salamanders and distantly related vertebrate model organisms. A total of 347 loci (AFLPs, RAPDs, and protein-coding loci) were mapped using an interspecific meiotic mapping panel (Ambystoma mexicanum and A. tigrinum tigrinum; family Ambystomatidae). Genome size in Ambystoma was estimated to be 7291 cM, the largest linkage map estimate reported for any organism. However, the relatively large size of the salamander genome did not hinder efforts to map and identify conserved syntenies from a small sample of 24 protein-coding loci. Chromosomal segments that are conserved between fishes and mammals are also conserved in these salamanders. Thus, comparative gene mapping appears to be an efficient strategy for identifying orthologous loci between ambystomatid salamanders and genomically well-characterized vertebrate model organisms.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				B. M. Fitzpatrick and H. B. Shaffer Hybrid vigor between native and introduced salamanders raises new challenges for conservation PNAS, October 2, 2007; 104(40): 15793 - 15798. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. J. Smith and S. R. Voss Bird and Mammal Sex-Chromosome Orthologs Map to the Same Autosomal Region in a Salamander (Ambystoma) Genetics, September 1, 2007; 177(1): 607 - 613. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. J. Smith, D. K. Kump, J. A. Walker, D. M. Parichy, and S. R. Voss A Comprehensive Expressed Sequence Tag Linkage Map for Tiger Salamander and Mexican Axolotl: Enabling Gene Mapping and Comparative Genomics in Ambystoma Genetics, November 1, 2005; 171(3): 1161 - 1171. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. Naruse, M. Tanaka, K. Mita, A. Shima, J. Postlethwait, and H. Mitani A Medaka Gene Map: The Trace of Ancestral Vertebrate Proto-Chromosomes Revealed by Comparative Gene Mapping Genome Res., May 1, 2004; 14(5): 820 - 828. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				P. B. Samollow, C. M. Kammerer, S. M. Mahaney, J. L. Schneider, S. J. Westenberger, J. L. VandeBerg, and E. S. Robinson First-Generation Linkage Map of the Gray, Short-Tailed Opossum, Monodelphis domestica, Reveals Genome-Wide Reduction in Female Recombination Rates Genetics, January 1, 2004; 166(1): 307 - 329. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]