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Automated nuclear cartography reveals conserved sperm chromosome territory localization across 2 million years of mouse evolution

Skinner, Benjamin M., Bacon, Joanne, Rathje, Claudia C., Larson, Erica L., Kopania, Emily E. K., Good, Jeffrey M., Affara, Nabeel A., Ellis, Peter J.I. (2019) Automated nuclear cartography reveals conserved sperm chromosome territory localization across 2 million years of mouse evolution. Genes, 10 (2). Article Number 109. (doi:10.3390/genes10020109) (KAR id:72162)

Abstract

Measurements of nuclear organization in asymmetric nuclei in 2D images have

traditionally been manual. This is exemplified by attempts to measure chromosome position in

sperm samples, typically by dividing the nucleus into zones, and manually scoring which zone a

FISH signal lies in. This is time consuming, limiting the number of nuclei that can be analyzed, and

prone to subjectivity. We have developed a new approach for automated mapping of FISH signals

in asymmetric nuclei, integrated into an existing image analysis tool for nuclear morphology.

Automatic landmark detection defines equivalent structural regions in each nucleus, then dynamic

warping of the FISH images to a common shape allows us to generate a composite of the signal

within the entire cell population. Using this approach, we mapped the positions of the sex

chromosomes and two autosomes in three mouse lineages (Mus musculus domesticus, Mus musculus

musculus and Mus spretus). We found that in all three, chromosomes 11 and 19 tend to interact with

each other, but are shielded from interactions with the sex chromosomes. This organization is

conserved across 2 million years of mouse evolution.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.3390/genes10020109
Projects: Customisable surface markers for the separation of X and Y bearing mammalian sperm
Uncontrolled keywords: sperm, quantitative morphometry, morphometrics, fertility, evolution, image analysis
Subjects: Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology
Q Science > QH Natural history > QH426 Genetics
Q Science > QH Natural history > QH581.2 Cell Biology
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Natural Sciences > Biosciences
Funders: [37325] UNSPECIFIED
Depositing User: Peter Ellis
Date Deposited: 05 Feb 2019 10:27 UTC
Last Modified: 04 Mar 2024 17:24 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/72162 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Rathje, Claudia C..

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CReDIT Contributor Roles:

Ellis, Peter J.I..

Creator's ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9709-7934
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