Neocentromere formation and evolution in the genus Equus

The living species of the genus Equus (horses, asses and zebras) are particularly valuable for comparative cytogenetic studies because their karyotypes differ extensively in spite of their recent divergence, morphological similarity and capacity to interbreed. We have shown that the formation of evolutionary new centromeres (ENCs), that is the shift of centromeres without DNA sequence rearrangement, played a key role during the rapid evolution of this genus; therefore, these animals are an ideal model system to study the formation and evolution of mammalian centromeres