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Inheritance of rDNA spacer length variants in man

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Summary

We studied the rDNA spacer length polymorphism in a sample of 121 individuals belonging to families of 2–3 generations. Our data, obtained by restriction pattern analysis of genomic DNA, confirmed the limited and discrete nature of this polymorphism. Using the pattern as a genetic marker, we analyzed the segregation of length variants in the different families and we investigated the possible occurrence of unequal crossing-over events among homologous and nonhomologous rDNA clusters. No direct evidence of recombination in the spacer region that we analyzed emeged from our study. All the differences in the restriction patterns observed among individuals from the same family could be explained as resulting from meiotic segregation. Family data showed a multichromosomal distribution of NTS length variants and demonstrated a direct correspondence between the frequency of a variant in the population and its degree of spreading on the different rDNA clusters.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Embryologie Moléculaire, Université de Genève, Ecole de Médecine, 20 rue de l'Ecole de Médecine, CH-1211, Geneve 4, Switzerland

    Guglielmina N. Ranzani & Marco Crippa

  2. Department of Human Genetics, State University Leiden, The Netherlands

    Luigi F. Bernini

Authors
  1. Guglielmina N. Ranzani
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  2. Luigi F. Bernini
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  3. Marco Crippa
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Communicated by W. Gehring

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Ranzani, G.N., Bernini, L.F. & Crippa, M. Inheritance of rDNA spacer length variants in man. Mol Gen Genet 196, 141–145 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00334106

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00334106

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