DEMONSTRATION OF HOMOEOLOGIES BETWEEN HUMAN AND LEMUR CHROMOSOMES BY CHROMOSOME PAINTING

Human-specific probes for chromosomes 3, 7, 9, 14, 19, and 21 were use d to paint chromosomes of three lemur species: Eulemur fulvus mayotten sis, E. macaco macaco, and Lemur catta. Chromosomes 1 and 3 of E. f. m ayottensis are homoeologous to human chromosomes 3, 9, 14, and 21, as previously suggested by chromosome banding. Probes for human chromosom es 7 and 19 produced unexpectedly strong signals in the centromeric re gions of all lemur chromosomes, suggesting that sequences homologous t o nonrepeated sequences of the human genome have been amplified during the formation of constitutive heterochromatin in lemurs.