Chromosome Evolution in Perissodactyla

Comparative painting has provided a wealth of useful information and helped to reconstruct the pathways of karyotype evolution within major eutherian phylogenetic clades. New data have come from gene localizations, BAC mapping and high throughout sequencing projects that enrich and provide new details of genome evolution. Extensive research on perissodactyl genomes has revealed not only increased rates of chromosomal rearrangements, but also an exceptionally high number of centromere repositioning events in equids. Here were combined new physical mapping, comparative painting and genome sequencing data to refine the putative ancestral karyotype maps and to revise the previously proposed scenario of perissodactyl karyotype evolution.