Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Repeated sequences in the DNA of Drosophila and their localization in giant chromosomes

  • Published:
Chromosoma Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

It is shown by isopycnic density gradient centrifugation that the DNAs of the sibling species Drosophila hydei, Drosophila neohydei and Drosophila pseudoneohydei differ regarding the numbers and proportions of satellite DNA bands. An overwhelming proportion of all repetitive nucleotide sequences of the DNA is contained in these satellite fractions. The majority of the satellites are species specific despite the close phylogenetic and cytological relationship between the three species studied. — By in situ hybridization experiments it is demonstrated that the various satellite sequences occupy different positions within the chromosomes. All types of localization patterns, from a wide spread occurrence in all chromosomes to an apparent restriction to kinetochore regions of single chromosomes, have been observed. Main band DNA, on the other hand, in its hybridization behavior reflects the DNA distribution according to the banding pattern in giant chromosomes. Generally satellite sequences seem to be included in α-heterochromatic chromosome regions but no relation to the heterochromatin of the Y-chromosome was found. — Renaturation studies support various evidence that satellite sequences occur in tandemly repetitious units. At least some of this repetitious material seems to be linked to non-satellite DNA sequences or to DNA of other satellites.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Arcos-Terán, L., Beermann, W.: Changes of DNA replication behavior associated with intragenic changes of the white region in Drosophila melanogaster. Chromosoma (Berl.) 25, 377–391 (1968).

    Google Scholar 

  • Beermann, W.: Riesenchromosomen. Plasmatologia, Bd. VI/D. Wien: Springer 1962

    Google Scholar 

  • —: Operative Gliederung der Chromosomen. Naturwissenschaften 52, 365–375 (1965).

    Google Scholar 

  • Berendes, H. D.: The salivary gland chromosomes of Drosophila hydei Sturtevant. Chromosoma (Berl.) 14, 195–206 (1963).

    Google Scholar 

  • Britten, R. J.: Report in Carnegie Yearbook 64, 316–333 (1965).

    Google Scholar 

  • —: Report in Carnegie Yearbook 65, 78–106 (1967).

    Google Scholar 

  • —: Report in Carnegie Yearbook 66, 68–88 (1968).

    Google Scholar 

  • —: Report in Carnegie Yearbook 67, 300–335 (1969).

    Google Scholar 

  • —, Konne, D. E.: Repeated sequences in DNA. Science 161, 529–540 (1968).

    Google Scholar 

  • —: Repetition of nucleotide sequences in chromosomal DNA. And: Implications of repeated nucleotide sequences. Handbook of molecular cytology (A. Lima-deFaria, ed.). Amsterdam: North Holland Publishing Co. 1969a, b.

    Google Scholar 

  • Callan, H. G.: The lampbrush chromosomes of Sepia officinalis L., Anilocra physodes L. and Scyllium catalus Cuv. and their structural relationship to the lampbrush chromosomes of amphibia. Pubbl. Staz. Zool. Napoli 29, 329–346 (1957).

    Google Scholar 

  • —: The nature of lampbrush chromosomes. Intern. Rev. Cytol. 15, 1–34 (1963).

    Google Scholar 

  • —: The organization of genetic units in chromosomes. J. Cell Sci. 2, 1–7 (1967).

    Google Scholar 

  • —, Lloyd, L.: Lampbrush chromosomes of crested newts Triturus cristatus (Laurenti). Phil. Trans. roy. Soc. B 243, 135–219 (1960).

    Google Scholar 

  • Flamm, W. G., Birnstiel, M. L., Walker, P. M. B.: Preparation, fractionation and isolation of single strands of DNA by isopycnic ultracentrifugation in fixed-angle rotors. In: Subcellular components (G. D. Birnie and S. M. Fox, eds.). London: Butterworths 1969.

    Google Scholar 

  • —, Bond, H. E., Burr, H. E.: Density gradient centrifugation of DNA in a fixedangle rotor: A higher order of resolution. Biochim. biophys. Acta (Amst.) 129, 310–319 (1966b).

    Google Scholar 

  • —, Bond, L. S.: Satellite DNA isolated from mouse liver; some physical and metabolic properties. Biochim. biophys. Acta (Amst.) 123, 652–654 (1966a).

    Google Scholar 

  • —, McCallum, M., Walker, P. M. B.: The isolation of complementary strands from a mouse DNA fraction. Proc. nat. Acad. Sci. (Wash.) 57, 1729–1734 (1967).

    Google Scholar 

  • —, Walker, P. M. B., McCallum, M.: Some properties of the single-strands isolated from the DNA of the nuclear satellite of the mouse (Mus musculus). J. molec. Biol. 40, 423–443 (1969).

    Google Scholar 

  • Freifelder, D., Kleinschmidt, A. K.: Single stranded breaks in duplex DNA of coliphage T 7 as demonstrated by electron microscopy. J. molec. Biol. 14, 271–278 (1965).

    Google Scholar 

  • Gall, J. G., Callan, H. G.: 3H-uridine incorporation in lampbrush chromosomes. Proc. nat. Acad. Sci. (Wash.) 48, 562–570 (1962).

    Google Scholar 

  • —, Pardue, M. L.: The formation and detection of RNA-DNA hybrid molecules in cytological preparations. Proc. nat. Acad. Sci. (Wash.) 63, 378–383 (1969).

    Google Scholar 

  • Gerbi, S. A.: Localization and characterization of the ribosomal cistrons of Sciara coprophila (submitted for publication) (1971).

  • Gillespie, D., Spiegelman, S.: A quantitative assay for DNA-RNA hybrids with DNA immobilized on a membrane. J. molec. Biol. 12, 829–842 (1965).

    Google Scholar 

  • Harel, J., Hanania, N., Tapiero, H., Harel, L.: RNA replication by nuclear satellite DNA in different mouse cells. Biochem. biophys. Res. Commun. 33, 696–701 (1968).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hasting, J. R. B., Kirby, K. S.: The nucleic acids of Drosophila melanogaster. Biochem. J. 100, 532–539 (1966).

    Google Scholar 

  • Heitz, E.: Über α- and β-Heterochromatin, sowie Konstanz und Bau der Chromomeren bei Drosophila. Biol. Zbl. 54, 588–609 (1934).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hennig, W.: Untersuchungen zur Struktur und Funktion des Lampenbürsten-Y -Chromosoms in der Spermatogenese von Drosophila. Chromosoma (Berl.) 22, 294–357 (1967).

    Google Scholar 

  • —: Ribonucleic acid synthesis of the Y-chromosome of Drosophila hydei. J. molec. Biol. 38, 1–13 (1968).

    Google Scholar 

  • —, Walker, P. M. B.: Variations in the DNA from two rodent families (Cricetidae and Muridae). Nature (Lond.) 225, 915–919 (1970).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hess, O., Meyer, G. F.: Genetic activities of the Y-chromosome in Drosophila during spermatogenesis. Advanc. Genet. 14, 171–223 (1968).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hinton, T.: A comparative study of certain heterochromatic regions in the mitotic and salivary gland chromosomes of Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics 27, 119–127 (1942).

    Google Scholar 

  • John, H. A., Birnstiel, M. L., Jones, K. W.: RNA-DNA hybrids at the cytological level. Nature (Lond.) 223, 582–587 (1969).

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, K. W.: Chromosomal and nuclear location of mouse satellite DNA in individual cells. Nature (Lond.) 225, 912–915 (1970).

    Google Scholar 

  • —, Robertson, F. R.: Localization of reiterated nucleotide sequences in Drosophila and mouse by in situ hybridization of complementary RNA. Chromosoma (Berl.) 31, 331–345 (1970).

    Google Scholar 

  • Laird, C. D., McCarthy, B. J.: Magnitude of interspecific nucleotide sequence variability in Drosophila. Genetics 60, 303–322 (1968).

    Google Scholar 

  • Maio, J. J., Schildkraut, G. L.: Isolated metaphase chromosomes. I. General characteristics of nucleic acids and proteins. J. molec. Biol. 24, 29–39 (1967).

    Google Scholar 

  • Mulder, M. P., Duijn, P. van, Gloor, H. G.: The replicative organization of DNA in polytene chromosomes of Drosophila hydei. Genetica ('s-Gravenhage) 39, 385–428 (1968).

    Google Scholar 

  • Pardue, M. L., Gall, J. G.: Chromosomal localization of mouse satellite DNA. Science 168, 1356–1358 (1970).

    Google Scholar 

  • —, Gerbi, S. A., Eckardt, R. A., Gall, J. G.: Cytological localization of DNA complementary to ribosomal RNA in polytene chromosomes of Diptera. Chromosoma (Berl.) 29, 268–290 (1970).

    Google Scholar 

  • Robertson, F. W., Chipchase, M., Thin Man, N.: The comparison of differences in reiterated sequences by RNA-DNA hybridization. Genetics 63, 369–385 (1969).

    Google Scholar 

  • Rolfe, R., Meselson, M.: The relative homogeneity of microbial DNA. Proc. nat. Acad. Sci. (Wash.) 45, 1039–1043 (1959).

    Google Scholar 

  • Rudkin, G. T., Corlette, S. L., Schultz, J.: The relations of the nucleic acid content in salivary gland chromosome bands. Genetics 41, 657–658 (1956).

    Google Scholar 

  • Slizynski, B. M.: “Ectopic” pairing and the distribution of heterochromatin in the X-chrornosome of salivary gland nuclei in Drosophila melanogaster. Proc. roy. Soc. Edinb. 62, 114–119 (1945).

    Google Scholar 

  • Southern, E. M.: Base sequence and evolution of guinea-pig α-satellite DNA. Nature (Lond.) 227, 794–798 (1970).

    Google Scholar 

  • Sueoka, N.: A statistical analysis of deoxyribonucleic acid distribution in density gradient centrifugation. Proc. nat. Acad. Sci. (Wash.) 45, 1480–1490 (1959).

    Google Scholar 

  • —, Marmur, J., Doty, P.: Heterogeneity in deoxyribonucleic acids. II. Dependence of the density of deoxyribonucleic acids on guanine-cytosine content. Nature (Lond.) 183, 1429–1431 (1959).

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomas, C. A., Hamkalo, B. A., Misra, D. N., Lee, C. S.: The cyclization of eucaryotic DNA fragments. J. molec. Biol. 51, 621–632 (1970).

    Google Scholar 

  • Tichy, H.: Biochemische und cytogenetische Untersuchungen zur Natur des Hämoglobin-Polymorphismus bei Chironomus tentans und Chironomus pallidivittatus. Chromosoma (Berl.) 29, 131–188 (1970).

    Google Scholar 

  • Vinograd, J., Hearst, J. E.: Equilibrium sedimentation of macromolecules and viruses in a density gradient. Fortschr. Chem. org. Naturstoffe 20, 373–422 (1962).

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker, P. M. B.: How different are the DNAs from related animals ? Nature (Lond.) 219, 228–232 (1968).

    Google Scholar 

  • —: The specificity of molecular hybridization in relation to studies on higher organisms. Progr. Nucleic Acid Res. 9, 301–324 (1969).

    Google Scholar 

  • —, Flamm, W. G., McLaren, A.: The problem of the highly repetitive DNA in higher organisms. Handbook of molecular cytology (A. Lima-de-Faria, ed.), p. 52–66. Amsterdam: North Holland Publishing Co. 1969.

    Google Scholar 

  • Waring, M., Britten, R. J.: Nucleotide sequence repetition: A rapidly reassociating fraction of mouse DNA. Science 154, 791–794 (1966).

    Google Scholar 

  • Yasmineh, W. G., Yunis, J. J.: Satellite DNA in mouse autosomal heterochromatin. Biochem. biophys. Res. Commun. 35, 779–782 (1969).

    Google Scholar 

  • Yunis, J. J., Yasmineh, W. G.: Satellite DNA in constitutive heterochromatin of the guinea pig. Science 168, 263–265 (1970).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max-Planck-Institut für Biologie, Abt. W. Beermann, Tübingen

    Wolfgang Hennig, Ingrid Hennig & Hans Stein

Authors
  1. Wolfgang Hennig
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ingrid Hennig
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Hans Stein
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hennig, W., Hennig, I. & Stein, H. Repeated sequences in the DNA of Drosophila and their localization in giant chromosomes. Chromosoma 32, 31–63 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00334010

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00334010

Keywords

Search

Navigation