Complete homology maps of the rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and human by reciprocal chromosome painting

Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was used to construct a homology map to analyse the extent of evolutionary conservation of chromosome segmen ts between human and rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus, 2n = 44). Chromosome-sp ecific probes were established by bivariate fluorescence activated flow sor ting followed by degenerate oligonucleotide-primed PCR (DOP-PCR). Painting of rabbit probes to human chromosomes and vice versa allowed a detailed ana lysis of the homology between these species. All rabbit chromosome paints, except for the Y paint, hybridized to human chromosomes. All human chromoso me paints, except for the Y paint, hybridized to rabbit chromosomes. The re sults obtained revealed extensive genome conservation between the two speci es. Rabbit chromosomes 12, 19 and X were found to be completely homologous to human chromosomes 6, 17 and X, respectively. All other human chromosomes were homologous to two or sometimes three rabbit chromosomes. Many conserv ed chromosome segments found previously in other mammals (e.g. cat, pig, ca ttle, Indian muntjac) were also found to be conserved in rabbit chromosomes .