Accepted_test
Western capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) is a common species in Europe and Asia, including the territory of Russia. The capercaillie is a part of order Galliformes, family Phasianidae. Galliformes belong to the basal branch of Neognathae, which includes the most modern birds. Despite the presence of a chromosome level genome assembly of capercaillie based on Hi-C technologies, there is no published data on the karyotype of western capercaillie. The purpose of this study was to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the chromosomal set of western capercaillie and to compare it with the karyotype of the hypothetical common ancestor of neopalates (Neognathae). For the first time, a complete description of the karyotype of western capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus, 2n=78) has been obtained and correspondences were established between the scaffolds and chromosomes of western capercaillie. According to the data obtained, the karyotype of capercaillie is highly conservative and highly similar with the karyotype of the common ancestor of neopalates (Neognathae). It was shown that the karyotype of the common capercaillie differs from the chicken karyotype by two fusions and a fission of an element orthologous to chicken chromosome 2.