Satellite DNAs, heterochromatin, and sex chromosomes of the wattled jacana (Charadriiformes; Jacanidae): a species with highly rearranged karyotype
Alan Moura de Oliveira, Guilherme Mota Souza, Gustavo Akira Toma, Natália dos Santos, Rodrigo Zeni dos Santos, Caio Augusto Gomes Goes, Geize Aparecida Deon, Príncia Grejo Setti, Fábio Porto‐Foresti, Ricardo Utsunomia, Ricardo José Gunski, Analía Del Valle Garnero, Edivaldo Herculano Corrêa de Oliveira, Rafael Kretschmer, Marcelo de Bello Cioffi
Abstract
Charadriiformes, which comprises shorebirds and their relatives, is one of the most diverse avian orders, with over 390 species showing a wide range of karyotypes. Here, we isolated and characterized the whole collection of satellite DNAs (satDNAs) at both molecular and cytogenetic levels of one of its representative species, named the wattled jacana ( Jacana jacana), a species that contains a typical ZZ/ZW sex chromosome system and a highly rearranged karyotype. In addition, we also investigate the in situ location of telomeric and microsatellite repeats. A small catalog of 11 satDNAs was identified that typically accumulated on microchromosomes and on the W chromosome. The latter also showed a significant accumulation of telomeric signals, being (GA) 10 the only microsatellite with positive hybridization signals among all the 16 tested ones. These current findings contribute to our understanding of the genomic organization of repetitive DNAs in a bird species with high degree of chromosomal reorganization contrary to the majority of bird species that have stable karyotypes.