KARYOTYPE ANALYSIS OF NANNOSPALAX XANTHODON (SPALACIDAE, RODENTIA) AT THE EASTERNMOST PART OF ITS DISTRIBUTION RANGE

Year 2020, Volume: 29 Issue: 1, 61 - 70, 30.06.2020

Alexey Yanchukov , Andrei Kandaurov Mehmet Kürşat Şahin , Ferhat Matur

Abstract

Chromosomal differentiation can play a crucial role in speciation. In order to reveal a complete picture of the speciation process within a taxon, it is important to determine the geographic distribution of all its chromosomal forms. The blind mole rats (subfamily Spalacinae) are one of the best models for studying chromosomal speciation due to extremely rich chromosomal variation across their large geographic distribution range. To fill the gap in our knowledge of the distribution of chromosomal races of small-bodied blind mole rats (Nannospalax sp.), we collected individuals from the region of Javakheti, Georgia – one of the easternmost localities known for N. xanthodon. We determined that this population has 9 meta- or submetacentric and 15 acrocentric chromosomes (2n=50, NFa=66, NF= 70). The same chromosomal formula is known for the blind mole rats from the nearby Erzurum-Kars plateau in Turkey. We compare our results with the other chromosomal races with the same diploid number 2n=50 found in Anatolia and Eastern Europe.

Keywords

Chromosome, chromosomal evolution, blind mole rat

References

• Savić, I and Nevo, E. (1990). The Spalacidae: evolutionary history, speciation, and population biology. In: Nevo E and Reig OA, editors. Evolution of subterranean mammals at the organismal and molecular levels Alan R. Liss, Inc., New York: 129–153.
• Lyapunova, E.A., Vorontsov, N.N. and Martynova, L., Cytological differentiation of burrowing mammals in the Palaearctic, In: Kratochvíl J and Obrtel R, editors. Symposium Theriologicum II. Academia, Prague: (1974), 203–215.
• Arslan, A., Kryštufek, B., Matur, F. and Zima, J. Review of chromosome races in blind mole rats (Spalax and Nannospalax, Folia Zoologica, 65(4) (2016), 249–301.
• Coşkun, Y. A study on the morphology and karyology of Nannospalax nehringi (Satunin, 1898) (Rodentia: Spalacidae) from north-eastern Anatolia, Turkey, Turkish Journal of Zoology, 27 (2003), 171–176
• Hadid, Y., Németh, A., Snir, S., Pavlíček, T., Csorba, G., Kázmér, M., Major, Á., Mezhzherin, S., Rusin, M., Coşkun, Y. and Nevo, E., Is Evolution of Blind Mole Rats Determined by Climate Oscillations? Plos One, 7 (1) (2012), e30043.
• Kandemir, İ., Sözen,M., Matur, F., Kankılıç, T., Martínková, N., Çolak, F. and Çolak, E., Phylogeny of species and cytotypes of mole rats (Spalacidae) in Turkey inferred from mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequences, Folia Zoologica 61(1) (2012), 25–33.
• Matur, F., Yanchukov, A., Çolak, F. and Sözen, M., Two major clades of blind mole rats (Nannospalax sp.) revealed by mtDNA and microsatellite genotyping in Western and Central Turkey, Mammalian Biology, 94 (2019), 38–47.
• Orlov, V.N. On the separate species status of Spalax nehringi (Sat.). In: Vorontsov NN, editor, The mammals, Proceedings of a mammalogical conference, Novosibirsk, (in Russian) (1969), 94–95.
• Nevo, E, Filippucci, M.G., Redi, C., Korol, A. and Beiles, A., Chromosomal speciation and adaptive radiation of mole rats in Asia Minor correlated with increased ecological stress, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A. 91 (1994), 8160–8164.
• Nevo, E, Filippucci, M.G., Redi, C., Simson, S., Heth, G. and Beiles, A., Karyotype and genetic evolution in speciation of subterranean mole rats of the genus Spalax in Turkey, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 54 (1995), 203–229.
• Sözen, M., Çolak, E. and Yiğit, N., Contributions to the karyology and taxonomy of Spalax leucodon nehringi Satunin, 1898 and Spalax leucodon armeniacus Mehely, 1909 (Mammalia: Rodentia) in Turkey, Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde 65 (2000), 309–312.
• Kankılıç, Te, Çolak, R., Kankılıç, To. and Çolak, E., On the morphology and karyology of Spalax leucodon armeniacus Mehely, 1909, and Spalax leucodon cilicicus Mehely, 1909 (Mammalia: Rodentia) in Turkey, Acta Zoologica Bulgarica, 59(2007), 41–46.
• Ulutürk, S., Coşkun, Y. and Arıkan, H., A comparative karyological and serological study on two populations of Nannospalax nehringi (Satunin 1898) from Turkey, North-Western Journal of Zoology 5 (2009), 349–356.
• Sözen, M. A karyological study on subterranean mole rats of the Spalax leucodon Nordmann, 1840 superspecies in Turkey, Mammalian Biology, 64 (2004), 420–429.
• Sözen, M., Matur, F., Çolak, E., Özkurt, Ş. and Karataş, A., Some karyological records and a new chromosomal form for Spalax (Mammalia: Rodentia) in Turkey, Folia Zoologica, 55 (2006), 247–256.
• Matur, F., Çolak, F. Sevindik, M. and Sözen, M., Chromosome differentiation of four 2n = 50 chromosomal forms of Turkish mole rat, Nannospalax nehringi, Zoological Science 28 (2011), 61–67.
• Raicu, P. and Duma, D., Cytogenetical study in Sp. leucodon in Moldavia (Romania), Genetics Research Cambridge, 13 (1969), 99–104.
• Raicu, P., Bratosin, S. and Hamar, M., Study on the karyotype of Spalax leucodon Nordm. and S. microphthalmus Güld, Caryologia, 21 (1968), 127–135.
• Soldatović, B., Karyotype analysis and cytogenetic aspects of speciation in the genus Spalax, Zbornik Matice Srpske Za Prirodne Nauke, 52 (1977), 5–58. (in Serbian)
• Savić, I. and Soldatović, B., Karyotype evolution and taxonomy of the genus Nannospalax Palmer, 1903, Mammalia, in Europe, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Separate editions, 59 (1984), 1–104.
• Arslan, A. and Zima, J., Karyotypes of the mammals of Turkey and neighbouring regions: a review, Folia Zoologica, 63(1) (2014) , 1-62.
• Ford, C. and Hamerton, J., A colchicine hypotonic citrate, squash for mammalian chromosomes, Stain Technologie, 31(1956), 247–251
• Sözen, M., Çolak, F., Sevindik, M. and Matur, F., Cytotypes of Nannospalax xanthodon (Satunin, 1898)(Rodentia: Spalacidae) from western Anatolia, Turkish Journal of Zoology, 37(4) (2013), 462-469.
• Kankılıç, T., Kankılıç, T., Çolak, R., Çolak, E. and Karataş, A., Karyological comparison of populations of the Spalax leucodon Nordmann, 1840 superspecies (Rodentia: Spalacidae) in Turkey, Zoology in the Middle East, 42(1) (2007), 15-24.
• Bukhnikashvili, A. and Kandaurov, A., The Annotated List of Mammals of Georgia, Proceedings of the Institute of Zoology, “Metsniereba”, Tbilisi, 21(2002), 319-340.
• Orlov, V.N. and Bulatova, N.Sh., Sravnitel’naia tsitogenetika i kariosistematika mlekopitaiushchikh / V.N. Orlov, N.Sh. Bulatova, The comparative cytogenetics and caryosystematics of mammals, Nauka, (1983), 405 р. (in Russian).
• Shidlovsky, M.V. Opredelitel' gryzunov Zakavkaz'ya, The key-handbook of the rodents of the Transcaucasia, the second edition, Tbilisi, Metsniereba, (1976), 255 p. (in Russian).