BOOK REVIEW

Molecular cytogenetic evolution ofmammals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Chromosomal evolution

Evolutionary Dynamics of Mammalian Karyotypes.Edited by R Stanyon and A GraphodatskyISSN: 1424-8581Published by: Karger, Basel, Switzerland, as Reprint of Cytogenetic and GenomeResearch, Vol. 137, No. 2–4, 2012, 207 pp. Price CHF: 109, h91, $128. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Claude Stoll

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European Journal of Human Genetics (2013) 21, 1330; doi:10.1038/ejhg.2013.4

This volume reviews and synthesizes thecytogenetic results obtained in the

numerous studies of mammalian chromo-some evolution including the recent advancesin molecular cytogenetics.

The study of animal karyotypes showedthat animals have a great diversity in numberand morphology of chromosomes despitethat their genomes are remarkably conserved.How can this conservation be resolved? Thisvolume try to answer to this question.

The first contribution of the volume,written by the Editors with a bringing ofMA Ferguson-Smith, is an overview and ahistory of the cytogenetic techniques used inthe analysis of mammalian karyotypes includ-ing the results obtained, with an emphasis onchromosome painting in mammals. Chromo-some banding (Q-, G-, R-, and C-banding)allowed the workers looking for between-species homologies. However, the homologiesestablished between distantly related speciesremained speculative until the advent ofmolecular cytogenetics and especially chro-mosome painting in the late 1980s and early1990s. Then it became possible to search forancestral karyotypes, and to offer originalperspectives on genome evolution in mam-mals and in other vertebrates, as well as onsyntenic and associational evolution.

The second contribution is devoted togenome size as the evolution of the maingenome signature is its size. However, thegenome size of several taxa vary over a broad

range and do not correlate with the com-plexity of the organisms (the C-value para-dox). The biology of transposable elementsmay explain some of the molecular mechan-isms that are involved in genome size varia-tion and novelties.

The other 13 contributions of the volume,written by leading experts in the field, detailsthe cytogenetic findings in Marsupialia andMonotreme, Xenarthra, Afrotheria, Eulipo-typhla, Chiroptera, Carnivora and Pholidota,Cetartiodactyla, Perissodactyla, Sciuromorphaand Lagomorpha, Non-Sciuromorpha Roden-tia, Strepsirrhine Primates, Dermoptera andScandentia, new-world monkeys (Platyrrhini),and Catarrhine Primates (old-world monkeys,apes and humans).

In this volume, a consistent view ofchromosome evolution in mammals is pro-posed. However, more work is needed asthere is an insufficiency of taxa sampling.Even in the more studied mammalian orders,primates and carnivores, only a few specieshave been studied. The study of more speciesfor enormous orders such as rodents and batsshould be done as well for other species allover the mammalian tree, including smallerclades such as Afrotheria and Xenarthra.

Painting comparisons of humans and otherprimates displayed that there is no molecularclock for chromosome evolution. Differentrates of chromosome evolution werereported, for example, the high chromosomeconservation in felids and whales, and the

rapid chromosome evolution in canids,skunks, pigs, and equids.

The molecular cytogenetic method com-monly used is chromosome painting. Fewspecies, mostly primates, have been studiedwith higher resolution methods such as BAC-FISH (fluorescent in situ hybridization usingBAC), which are able to define intrachromo-somal rearrangements and inversions. Thereis much work to be done at this level.However, chromosome painting has alloweda large sampling of taxa, whereas sequencingstudies have been performed mainly inspecies of economic interest or in speciesthat are of peculiar significance for under-standing human evolution such as the higherprimates. Nonetheless, with the next-genera-tion sequencing, the number of vertebratespecies sequenced will highly increase. It isprobable that the integration of cytogeneticand sequencing information will be extre-mely important for resolving issues in cyto-genetics such as the reconstruction ofancestral karyotypes, the elimination ofhomoplasy that can plague cytogeneticreconstructions, and the distinction of con-vergent associations and homologousassociations.

Those searching for an answer to thequestion what makes us human, will not findit in this volume. However, one can imaginethat understanding the forces responsible fordifferent rates of chromosome evolution andthe peculiar characteristics of the mammaliangenome will be possible at the sequencinglevel in the near future. Will this mean thatcytogenetics is no more relevant in evolu-tionary studies? The Editors of this volumedo not think so, they think that a closerintegration between cytogenetics and sequen-cing efforts will be necessary if cytogeneticistswant to maintain their relevance in evolu-tionary studies.

This book, available in hardback and inelectronic format, is recommended to thoseinterested in the evolution of the vertebrategenome and for researchers involved inmammalian evolution, comparative cytoge-netics, molecular cytogenetics, comparativegenomics, primatology, and zoology’

C Stoll is at the Laboratoire de GenetiqueMedicale, Faculte de Medecine, University of

Strasbourg, FranceE-mail: cstoll@unistra.fr

European Journal of Human Genetics (2013) 21, 1330& 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited All rights reserved 1018-4813/13

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