RESEARCH ARTICLE Molecular Cytogenetic Analysis of the European Hake Merluccius merluccius (Merlucciidae, Gadiformes): U1 and U2 snRNA Gene Clusters Map to the Same Location Daniel García-Souto1, Tomás Troncoso1,2, Montse Pérez2, Juan José Pasantes1* 1 Departamento de Bioquímica, Xenética e Inmunoloxía, Universidade de Vigo, Vigo, Spain, 2 Grupo de Acuicultura Marina, Centro Oceanográfico de Vigo, Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Vigo, Spain *
[email protected] Abstract OPEN ACCESS The European hake (Merluccius merluccius) is a highly valuable and intensely fished spe- Citation: García-Souto D, Troncoso T, Pérez M, Pasantes JJ (2015) Molecular Cytogenetic Analysis cies in which a long-term alive stock has been established in captivity for aquaculture pur- of the European Hake Merluccius merluccius poses. Due to their huge economic importance, genetic studies on hakes were mostly (Merlucciidae, Gadiformes): U1 and U2 snRNA Gene focused on phylogenetic and phylogeographic aspects; however chromosome numbers Clusters Map to the Same Location. PLoS ONE 10 are still not described for any of the fifteen species in the genus Merluccius. In this work we (12): e0146150. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0146150 report a chromosome number of 2n = 42 and a karyotype composed of three meta/sub- Editor: Riccardo Castiglia, Universita degli Studi di metacentric and 18 subtelo/telocentric chromosome pairs. Telomeric sequences appear Roma La Sapienza, ITALY exclusively at both ends of every single chromosome. Concerning rRNA genes, this species Received: October 20, 2015 show a single 45S rDNA cluster at an intercalary location on the long arm of subtelocentric Accepted: December 13, 2015 chromosome pair 12; the single 5S rDNA cluster is also intercalary to the long arm of chro- Published: December 30, 2015 mosome pair 4.