Spontaneous occurrence of a Robertsonian fusion involving chromosome 19 by single whole-arm reciprocal translocation (WART) in wild-derived house mice.

Chromosomal races of the house mouse (Mus musculus domesticus) bear Robertsonian (Rb) fusions, which consist of centric translocations between two non-homologous acrocentric chromosomes. The high level of diversity of these fusions in house mice is generated by de-novo formation of Rb fusions and subsequent whole-arm reciprocal exchanges (WARTs). This paper describes the spontaneous occurrence of a new Rb fusion, Rb(4.19), in progeny of wild-derived house mice segregating for Rb(4.12). The chromosomal mutation was traced to a female which exhibited germline and somatic mosaicism indicating an early embryonic origin of the mutation. FISH analysis of centromerically-located ribosomal genes suggested that no modification was observed on chromosomes 12 and 19 prior to or following the occurrence of Rb(4.19). Distribution of telomeric sequences showed that both Rb fusions lacked telomeres in their centromeric regions. It is argued that this spontaneous mutation most likely originated by single whole-arm reciprocal translocation (WART) between Rb(4.12) and an acrocentric chromosome 19, resulting in Rb(4.19) and a neo-acrocentric chromosome 12. Sequences required for centromeric function and proximal telomeres would have been transferred to the neo-chromosome 12 from chromosome 19 during the translocation. The existence of such WARTs which generate derived acrocentric chromosomes has several implications for chromosomal evolution in house mice.