The distribution of the vertebrate telomeric sequence T₂AG₃ in three species of the rodent genus Akodon was examined by FISH with a peptide nucleic acid probe. In addition to the expected telomeric hybridization, non-telomeric signals were observed in the three species. In A. dolores, centromeric signals were visible in two of the four biarmed autosome pairs featuring Robertsonian polymorphism, indicating the retention of at least part of the telomeric sequences during the fusion process, and an interstitial signal of lower intensity was observed in the short arm of another. In A. boliviensis, a strong signal was observed near the centromeric end of the first chromosome pair. The first pair of A. azarae (homologous to the first pair of A. boliviensis) showed a similar but markedly amplified signal, and a subcentromeric signal in the X chromosome corresponding to a heterochromatic region; additionally, interstitial signals of lower intensity were present in one to four chromosomes in the majority of cells examined.

The populations of several species of Akodon present, besides XX females, a variable proportion of fertile XY females. In Akodon azarae, a correspondence exists between the X-chromosome C-banding pattern and the sexual phenotype of XY individuals: males carry a determinate X-chromosome type, defined by its C-banding pattern, and XY females, any of two others. To confirm the relation between X-chromosome type and the XY female condition and to investigate the hereditary transmission of these different X-chromosomes, we analyzed 50 animals captured in the field and 95 individuals corresponding to the F 1 and F 2 offspring of 16 crosses.It was seen that the correlation between X type and the sexual phenotype of XY animals is retained, and that the three X types are transmitted to the progeny. It was also observed that the male offspring of XY females receive the X-chromosome from their male parents and the Y from their mothers. These results strongly support the causal role of an X-borne mutation in A. azarae XY sex reversal, and discard a mutation of the Y-chromosome as the sole basis of this phenomenon.

Akodon azarae is one of several rodent species in whose populations XY fully fertile females are found. The chromosomes of 83 specimens (40 females, 43 males) from three localities were studied. A high incidence of XY females was observed: 21 of the females presented an XY karyotype. The X chromosome relative length corresponded to 8.2% of the genome, but a significative portion of it consisted of C-positive material, giving to the euchromatic part a relative length of 5.07%, in agreement with the estimated size of the eutherian X. Four C-banding patterns (I-IV) of the X chromosomes were observed, one of them found in only one specimen. The X chromosome of males was type I, and XY females showed an X of type II or III. XX females presented one X of type I and the other of type I, II, III or (in only one animal) of type IV. The significance of this polymorphism with respect to the XY female phenotype is briefly discussed.

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