Origin and evolution of acrocentric chromosomes in human and great apes
The short arms of human acrocentric chromosomes are characterized by nucleolar organizer regions essential for ribosome biogenesis, but their highly repetitive nature has hindered genomic analysis. Leveraging the recently completed genomes of all major ape lineages, we identified recurrent features of their acrocentrics, including enriched repeat classes, centromere repositioning by whole-arm inversion, interchromosomal sequence exchange, and birth-and-death evolution of multiple gene families. Together, these processes have enabled the repeated amplification and diversification of the <i>FRG1</i> gene family over 25 million years of ape evolution, and, in gorilla, the formation and amplification of a novel <i>IGSF3</i>-<i>GGT</i> fusion gene under positive selection. Similar evolutionary events also explain the distribution of segmental duplications and heterochromatin in the modern human genome, predisposing it to karyotypic abnormalities such as Robertsonian translocations. Our findings highlight acrocentric chromosomes as key drivers of evolution in the great apes, with implications for speciation, adaptation, and clinical genomics.
Authors
- Erik Garrison (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3821-631X)
- Jennifer L. Gerton (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0743-3637)
- Andrea Guarracino (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9744-131X)
- Luciana de Gennaro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-9572-7630)
- Tamara Potapova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2761-1795)
- Brandon D. Pickett (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8235-4440)
- Sergey Koren (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1472-8962)
- Benedict Paten (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8863-3539)
- Prajna Hebbar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-9817-5330)
- Mario Ventura (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7762-8777)
- Leonardo Gomes de Lima (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6340-6065)
- Steven J. Solar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3051-9009)
- Arang Rhie (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9809-8127)
- Juhyun Kim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5040-0163)
- Adam M. Phillippy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2983-8934)
- Melissa Wilson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5391-7838)
- Alexander Patrick Sweeten
- Evan E. Eichler
Institutions
- Stowers Institute for Medical Research (US)
- National Institutes of Health (US)
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute (US)
- University of Tennessee Health Science Center (US)
- University of California, Santa Cruz (US)
- University of Washington (US)
- National Human Genome Research Institute (US)
- University of Bari Aldo Moro (IT)
Publication Details
- Journal
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
- Published
- 2025-12-23
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.64898/2025.12.22.696095
- Primary Topic
- Chromosomal and Genetic Variations
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
- European Commission
- National Institutes of Health