Karyotypic description of Mazama bororo (small red brocket)

Abstract

The family Cervidae has a large number of species and stands out for its karyotypic diversity, with extensive variation of chromosome number and presence of supernumerary chromosomes. Mazama bororo, also known as small red deer, is a Brazilian deer that was first described in 1992 and is a threatened species. However, a small cytogenetic description was performed, using only two animals submitted to the most basic cytogenetic technique, the standard staining (Giemsa). Thus, this project aims to perform a detailed cytogenetic description of the species, as well as to investigate if the Brazilian population of M. bororo presents a chromosomal polymorphism capable of interfering in the reproductive capacity of the species. Therefore, chromosome preparations from fibroblasts cultures of 20 animals will be submitted to standard staining, C-banding, G-banding, Ag-NOR staining and FISH with telomeric probes. The analysis of the results will be made to determine the diploid number of each animal, identifying individuals with standard karyotypes and individuals with variant karyotypes. In addition, the description of the chromosomal banding will also be made, through the making of idiograms. With this, it is expected that the patterns of chromosomal bands allow to identify if there is chromosomal polymorphism among the individuals of the small red deer. Better cytogenetic characterization of the species will allow advancement not only in cytogenetic studies, but will also provide a basis for reproductive studies. (AU)