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Vol. 46 No. 4, 2007
Cytogenetic Analysis of the Formosan Pangolin, Manis pentadactyla pentadactyla
(Mammalia: Pholidota)
Sheng-Hai
Wu1, Ming Chen2,3,6, Shih-Chien Chin4,
Dong-Jay Lee3, Pao-Yin Wen3,
Li-Wen Chen3, Bao-Tyan Wang3,5,
and Hon-Tsen Yu2,*
1Department
of Life Sciences, National Chung-Hsing University, Taichung 402, Taiwan
2Institute of Zoology, and Department of Life Science,
College of Life Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan
3Center
for Medical Genetics, and Genetics Laboratory, Department of Medical
Research, Changhua Christian Hospital, Changhua 500, Taiwan
4Department of Veterinary Medicine, Taipei Zoo, Taipei
116, Taiwan
5Current Address: Quest Diagnostics, Nichols
Institute, San Juan Capistrano, CA, USA
6Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, College of
Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan
Sheng-Hai
Wu, Ming Chen, Shih-Chien Chin, Dong-Jay Lee, Pao-Yin Wen, Li-Wen Chen,
Bao-Tyan Wang, and Hon-Tsen Yu (2007) We analyzed the karyotypes
of the Formosan pangolin, Manis
pentadactyla pentadactyla,
a subspecies of the Chinese pangolin, Manis pentadactyla.
Pangolins belong to the mammalian order Pholidota and are primarily
anteaters. Since eutherian Sry is highly conserved, we first
conducted gene mapping of pangolin Sry by means of cross-species
fluorescence in situ
hybridization (FISH). The existence of a homologous Sry gene in
the pangolin Y chromosome is demonstrated. We also report
karyotyping by G-banding, C-banding, and Ag-NOR staining. The 2N
and FN numbers of the Formosan pangolin are 40 and 70, respectively,
which agree with the numbers reported for the subspecies Manis pentadactyla aurita
from the Asian mainland. However, we found 2 or 4 nucleolar
organizer regions (NORs) in the Formosan pangolin, whereas the Chinese
pangolin has 3 or 4. An ideogram for this species is proposed.
Key words: Cytogenetics,
Heterochromatin, Manis pentadactyla,
Pangolin, Silver-NOR.
*Correspondence: Sheng-Hai Wu and Ming Chen contributed
equally to this work. Tel: 886-2-33662456. Fax: 886-2-23638179.
E-mail:ayu@ntu.edu.tw.
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