Reciprocal chromosome painting between human and prosimians (Eulemur macaco macaco and E. fulvus mayottensis)

We used fluorescence in situ hybridisation to delineate the homology between the human karyotype and those of two lemur species (Eulemur macaco macaco and E. fulvus mayottensis). Human and lemur chromosome-specific probes were established by bivariate fluorescence-activated flow sorting (FACS) and subsequent degenerate oligonucleotide-primed PCR (DOP-PCR). Reciprocal painting of human probes to lemur chromosomes and vice versa allowed a detailed analysis of the interchromosomal rearrangements that had occurred during the evolution of these species. The results indicate that the genomes of both species have undergone only a few translocations during more that 45 million years of lemur and human evolution. The synteny of homologs to human chromosomes 3, 9, 11, 13, 14, 17, 18, 20, 21, X, and Y was found to be conserved in the two lemur species. Taking non-primate mammals as the outgroup for primates, ancestral conditions for various primate chromosomes were identified and distinguished from derived forms. Lemur chromosome painting probes were also used for cross-species hybridization between the two lemur species. The results support an earlier assumption, made on the basis of chromosome banding, that the karyotypes of the two species have evolved exclusively by Robertsonian transformations. All probes derived from E. f. mayottensis chromosomes specific for homologs involved in rearrangements in E. m. macaco exclusively painted entire chromosome arms. The results further indicate that E. f. mayottensis most probably has a more ancestral karyotype than E. m. macaco. Probes derived from prosimians will be useful in comparing the karyotypes of other lower primates, which will improve our understanding of early primate genome evolution.