Chromosome painting technique contributes to constructions of evolutionarytrees of lemurs

We used human-specific probes for chromosomes 3, 11, 14, 15, 17, 19, 21 to paint chromosomes of four species of Indridae (Avahi laniger, Indri indri, Propithecus verreauxi, and P. diadema). All human chromosome probes hybridi zed specifically to chromosome segments or to whole arms of indrid chromoso mes. In general, the results obtained by chromosome painting confirm those obtained by R-banding except for some reciprocal translocations undetected by R-banding. Our findings confirm that in the evolution of the Indridae, A vahi laniger first emerges, then Indri and Propithecus share a common trunk . After populational evolution, this sister clade diverged.