Summary
Five cloned histone H3 and H4 genes from maize have specific 5′ non-transcribed regions. Blot hybridization of each 5′ region to DNA from different maize inbred lines showed that the H3 and H4 multigenic families are organized into subfamilies. Each subfamily has a specific environment and contains a different (from 4–16) number of gene copies. H3 and H4 subfamilies with similar environments as those found in maize were shown to exist in the genomes of more or less related plants, including perennial teosinte, sorgho, sugar cane and Coïx. Such observations may contribute to establishing phylogenetic relationships at a molecular level between different plants and thus highlight some of the evolutionary mechanisms of the genomes of higher plants.
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Chaubet, N., Philipps, G. & Gigot, C. Organization of the histone H3 and H4 multigenic families in maize and in related genomes. Mol Gen Genet 219, 404–412 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00259613
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00259613