Abstract
Polytene and mitotic chromosomes of Drosophila melanogaster were treated with either Alu I or Hae III restriction endonucleases. Subsequent staining with the DNA-specific fluorochrome ethidium bromide showed that these enzymes are capable of selectively digesting chromosomal DNA in fixed cytological preparations, as previously shown in mammalian metaphase chromosomes. Alu I or Hae III digestion made possible the localization in situ of some highly repetitive DNAs in both polytene and mitotic chromosomes, while only Alu I permitted the localization of the 5S RNA genes on the polytene chromosomes of D. melanogaster.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Appels R, Peacock WJ (1978) The arrangement and evolution of highly repeated (satellite) DNA sequences with special reference to Drosophila. Int Rev Cytol [Suppl] 8:69–126
Artavanis-Tsakonas S, Schedl P, Tschudi C, Pirrotta V, Steward R, Gehring WJ (1977) The 5S genes of Drosophila melanogaster. Cell 12:1057–1067
Bianchi NO, Bianchi MS, Cleaver JE (1984) The action of ultraviolet light on the patterns of banding induced by restriction endonucleases in human chromosomes. Chromosoma 90:133–136
Bianchi MS, Bianchi NO, Pantelias GE, Wolff S (1985) The mechanism and pattern of banding induced by restriction endonucleases in human chromosomes. Chromosoma 91:131–136
Brutlag D, Carlson M, Fry K, Hsieh TS (1977) DNA sequence organization in Drosophila heterochromatin. Cold Spring Harbor Symp Quant Biol 42:1137–1146
Cartwright IL, Abmayr SM, Fleischmann G, Lowenhaupt K, Elgin S, Keene MA, Howard GC (1982) Chromatin structure and gene activity: the role of non-histone chromosomal proteins. Crit Rev Biochem 13:1–86
Eastmann EM, Goodmann RM, Erlanger BF, Miller OJ (1980) 5-Methylcytosine in the DNA of the polytene chromosomes of the Diptera Sciara coprophila, Drosophila melanogaster and D. persimilis. Chromosoma 79:225–239
Ellison JR, Barr HJ (1972) Quinacrine fluorescence of specific chromosome regions. Chromosoma 36:375–390
Gatti M, Pimpinelli S, Santini G (1976) Characterization of Drosophila heterochromatin. I. Staining and decondensation with Hoechst 33258 and quinacrine. Chromosoma 57:351–375
Kaelbling M, Miller DA, Miller OJ (1984) Restriction enzyme banding of mouse metaphase chromosomes. Chromosoma 90:128–132
Kato H, Moriwaki K (1972) Factors involved in the production of banded structures in mammalian chromosomes. Chromosoma 38:105–120
Lefevre G Jr (1976) A photographic representation and interpretation of the polytene chromosomes of Drosophila melanogaster salivary glands. In: Ashburner M, Novitski E (eds) The genetics and biology of Drosophila, vol 1a. Academic Press, New York, pp 32–64
Lewin B (1980) Eukaryotic chromosomes. In: Gene expression 2. John Wiley & Sons, New York, pp 464–547
Maniatis T, Fritsch EF, Sambrook J (1982) Restriction enzymes. In: Molecular cloning. Cold Spring Harbor, NY pp 98–106
Mezzanotte R (1978) Differential banding induced in polytene chromosomes of Drosophila melanogaster stained with acridine orange. Experientia 34:322–323
Mezzanotte R, Ferrucci L, Marchi A, Bianchi U (1982) The longitudinal differentiation produced by photo-oxidation and acridine orange staining in eukaryote chromosomes: role and involvement of DNA base composition. Cytogenet Cell Genet 33:277–284
Mezzanotte R, Ferrucci L, Vanni R, Bianchi U (1983a) Selective digestion of human metaphase chromosomes by Alu I restriction endonuclease. J Histochem Cytochem 31:553–556
Mezzanotte R, Bianchi U, Vanni R, Ferrucci L (1983b) Chromatin organization and restriction endonuclease activity on human metaphase chromosomes. Cytogenet Cell Genet 36:562–566
Mezzanotte R, Ferrucci L (1984) Alterations induced in mouse chromosomes by restriction endonucleases. Genetica 64:123–128
Mezzanotte R, Manconi PE, Rozzo C, Ennas MG, Ferrucci L (1985) The banding pattern produced by restriction endonucleases in mouse chromosomes. Basic Appl Histochem, in press
Miller DA, Choi JC, Miller OJ (1983) Chromosome localization of highly repetitive human DNAs and amplified ribosomal DNA with restriction enzymes. Science 219:395–397
Miller DA, Gosden JR, Hastie ND, Evans HJ (1984) Mechanism of endonuclease banding of chromosomes. Exp Cell Res 155:294–298
Pauluhn J, Naujok KA, Zimmerman HW (1980) Über die quantitative fluorometrische Bestimmung von DNA mit Ethidiumbromid in der Zelle und die Konstanz der Quantenausbeute des Ethidium-DNA-Komplexes im biologischen Milieu. Z Naturforsch 35:585–598
Peacock WJ, Lohe AR, Gerlach WL, Densmuir P, Dennis ES, Appels R (1977) Fine structure and evolution of DNA in heterochromatin. Cold Spring Harbor Symp Quant Biol 42:1121–1135
Rodriguez Alfageme C, Rudkin GT, Cohen L (1980) Isolation, properties and cellular distribution of D1, a chromosomal protein of Drosophila. Chromosoma 78:1–31
Rubin GM (1977) Isolation of a telomeric DNA sequence from Drosophila melanogaster. Cold Spring Harbor Symp Quant Biol 42:1041–1046
Shen CJ, Wiesehahn G, Hearst JE (1976) Cleavage patterns of Drosophila melanogaster satellite DNA by restriction enzymes. Nucleic Acids Res 3:931–950
Steffensen DM, Appels R, Peacock WJ (1981) The distribution of two highly repeated DNA sequences within Drosophila melanogaster chromosomes. Chromosoma 82:525–541
Tschudi C, Pirrotta V (1980) Sequence and heterogeneity in the 5S RNA gene cluster of Drosophila melanogaster. Nucleic Acids Res 8:441–451
Wimber DE, Steffensen DM (1970) Localization of 5S RNA genes on Drosophila chromosomes by RNA-DNA hybridization. Science 170:639–641
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mezzanotte, R. The selective digestion of polytene and mitotic chromosomes of Drosophila melanogaster by the Alu I and Hae III restriction endonucleases. Chromosoma 93, 249–255 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00292745
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00292745