Citotaxonomia de Boulengerella Eigenmann 1903 (Characiformes: Ctenoluciidae) da região Amazônica Central

Abstract

Ctenoluciidae has been allocated to the superfamily Erythrinoidea, which also includes the Erythrinidae, Lebiasinidae and Hepsetidae families. Molecular and cytogenetic data are still scarce for most groups in this superfamily, with Erythrinidae being is the best- studied family until now. Inside Ctenoluciidae, the genus Boulengerella comprises five species, which are known as pike-characins. In the present study, four species, B. cuvieri, B. lateristriga, B. lucius and B. maculata, from the Negro and Uatumã rivers, in Amazonas State, Brazil, were analyzed using conventional and molecular cytogenetic procedures. All four species have 2n = 36 chromosomes (14m+16sm+6st and NF=72). The heterochromatic pattern display mainly centromeric and bitelomeric C-positive bands, with some of them being species-specific. The nucleolus organizer region (NOR) is located in the secondary terminal constriction in the long arms of pair 18, in all four species, as confirmed by the mapping of the 18S rRNA. The 5S rRNA sites are located on two chromosome pairs: in the terminal region of the long arms of pair 1 in all four species, and in the centromeric region of pair 10 in B. lateristriga, B. maculata and B. cuvieri and pair 4 in B. lucius. FISH using telomeric probes highlighted the terminal regions of all chromosomes, with a major accumulation in pair 18 in accordance with the NOR location, in addition to interstitial sequences (ITS) in the centromeric region of pair 3 in B. lateristriga, B. maculata and B. cuvieri. No evidence of positive 5S HindIII regions was found in any species. Remarkably, a conspicuous male chromosomal heteromorphism occurs in heterozygous form in pair 18 of the four species, which may be related to a particular XX/XY sex chromosome system in this fish group.