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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Cytogenetic characterization ofBrachidontes pharaonis(Fisher P., 1870): Karyotype, banding and fluorescentin situhybridization (fish) (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Mytilidae)

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Abstract The mussel Brachidontes pharaonis (Fisher P., 1870) (Bivalvia: Mytilidae) has a diploid chromosomal set of 28 made up of 14 pairs of which eight are mono-armed (ST) and six bi-armed (M+SM). Fourteen bivalents occur in spermatocytes both at pachytene and metaphase-I. The use of combined silver and CMA3 staining reveals that nucleolus organizer regions (NORs) are located terminally on the long arm of a small subtelocentric chromosome pair (pair 14) and are compartmentalized in GC base pairs. A Paracentrotus lividus (Echinodermata) 4.3 kilobase (kb) rDNA probe (prR14) consisting of sequences from the 3′ end of 18S rDNA to the 3′ end of 26S rDNA was used to map the rDNA loci of B. pharaonis by fluorescence in situ hybridization. The results obtained with this technique confirm that NORs are located terminally on two small subtelocentric chromosomes (pair 14) and establish that the difference in dimension of homologous NORs is due to difference in the number of rDNA copies.