Karyotype diversity, mode, and tempo of the chromosomal evolution of Attina (Formicidae: Myrmicinae: Attini) : is there an upper limit to chromosome number?
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2021
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Ants are an important insect group that exhibits considerable diversity in chromosome
numbers. Some species show only one chromosome, as in the males of the Australian bulldog
ant Myrmecia croslandi, while some have as many as 60 chromosomes, as in the males of the giant
Neotropical ant Dinoponera lucida. Fungus-growing ants are a diverse group in the Neotropical ant
fauna, engaged in a symbiotic relationship with a basidiomycete fungus, and are widely distributed
from Nearctic to Neotropical regions. Despite their importance, new chromosome counts are scarcely
reported, and the marked variation in chromosome number across species has been poorly studied
under phylogenetic and genome evolutionary contexts. Here, we present the results of the cytogenetic
examination of fungus-farming ants and compile the cytogenetic characteristics and genome size of
the species studied to date to draw insights regarding the evolutionary paths of karyotype changes
and diversity. These data are coupled with a fossil-calibrated phylogenetic tree to discuss the mode
and tempo of chromosomal shifting, considering whether there is an upper limit for chromosome
number and genome size in ants, using fungus-farming ants as a model study. We recognize that
karyotypes are generally quite variable across fungus-farming ant phylogeny, mostly between genera,
and are more numerically conservative within genera. A low chromosome number, between 10 and
12 chromosomes, seems to present a notable long-term evolutionary stasis (intermediate evolutionary
stasis) in fungus-farming ants. All the genome size values were inside a limited spectrum below
1 pg. Eventual departures in genome size occurred with regard to the mean of 0.38 pg, indicating
that there is a genome, and likely a chromosome, number upper limit.
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Cell biology, Genome size, Ants, Genome evolution
Citação
CARDOSO, D. C.; CRISTIANO, M. P. Karyotype diversity, mode, and tempo of the chromosomal evolution of Attina (Formicidae: Myrmicinae: Attini): is there an upper limit to chromosome number?. Insects, v. 12, 2021. Disponível em: <https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4450/12/12/1084>. Acesso em: 29 abr. 2022.