The origin of human chromosome 2 analyzed by comparative chromosome mapping with a DNA microlibrary

Fluorescencein situ hybridization (FISH) of microlibraries
established from distinct chromosome subregions can test the
evolutionary conservation of chromosome bands as well as
chromosomal rearrangements that occurred during primate evolution
and will help to clarify phylogenetic relationships. We used a DNA
library established by microdissection and microcloning from the
entire long arm of human chromosome 2 for fluorescencein situ
hybridization and comparative mapping of the chromosomes of human,
great apes (Pan troglodytes, Pan paniscus, Gorilla gorilla, Pongo
pygmaeus) and Old World monkeys (Macaca fuscata andCercopithecus
aethiops). Inversions were found in the pericentric region of the
primate chromosome 2p homologs in great apes, and the hybridization
pattern demonstrates the known phylogenetically derived telomere
fusion in the line that leads to human chromosome 2. The
hybridization of the 2q microlibrary to chromosomes of Old World
monkeys gave a different pattern from that in the gorilla and the
orang-utan, but a pattern similar to that of chimpanzees. This
suggests convergence of chromosomal rearrangements in different
phylogenetic lines.