Summary
Three non-cross-hybridizing highly repetitive DNA components were studied in six whalebone and two toothed whale species. In one of the components, composition and repeat lengths have been preserved through the evolution of all cetaceans. Another component, primarily a whalebone whale characteristic, also has slow evolution. In the family Balaenopteridae the length of the repeat is about 420 bp. The component occurs in terminal chromosome positions. About half the component is composed of subrepeats having the motif TTAGGG, the same as has been described by other workers in the telomeres ofTrypanosoma brucei. Among the whalebone whales the third highly repetitive component was found only in the family Balaenopteridae. It is conceivably younger than the other two components. No common monomeric unit was identified, and the hybridization patterns were species specific, indicating that it evolves considerably faster than the other two components.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Árnason Ú (1969) The karyotype of the fin whale. Hereditas 64:273–284
Árnason Ú (1974) Comparative chromosome studies in Cetacea. Hereditas 77:1–36
Árnason Ú (1982) Southern blot hybridizations in cetaceans, using killer whale restriction fragment as a probe. Hereditas 97:47–49
Árnason Ú, Widegren B (1984) Different rates of divergence in highly repetitive DNA of cetaceans. Hereditas 101:171–177
Árnason Ú, Widegren B (1986) Pinniped phylogeny enlightened by molecular hybridizations using highly repetitive DNA. Mol Biol Evol 3:356–365
Árnason Ú, Purdom IF, Jones KW (1978) Conservation and chromosomal localization of DNA satellites in balenopterid whales. Chromosoma 66:141–159
Árnason Ú, Purdom IF, Jones KW (1982) Cetacean molecular hybridization using balenopterid satellite DNA cRNAs as probes. Hereditas 97:33–36
Árnason Ú, Höglund M, Widegren B (1984) Conservation of highly repetitive DNA in cetaceans. Chromosoma 89:238–242
Árnason Ú, Bellamy H, Eypórsson P, Lutley R, Sigurjónsson J, Widegren B (1985) Conventionally stained and C-banded karyotypes of a female blue whale. Hereditas 102:251–253
Blackburn EH, Challoner PB (1984) Identification of a telomeric DNA sequence inTrypanosoma brucei. Cell 36:447–457
Greider CW, Blackburn EH (1985) Identification of a specific telomere terminal transferase activity inTetrahymena extracts. Cell 43:405–413
Rigby PWJ, Dieckmann M, Rhodes C, Berg P (1977) Labeling deoxyribonucleic acid to high specific activity in vitro by nick translation with DNA polymerase I. J Mol Biol 113:237–251
Sanger F (1981) Determination of nucleotide sequences in DNA. Science 214:1205–1210
Southern EM (1975) Detection of specific sequences among DNA fragments separated by gel electrophoresis. J Mol Biol 98:503–517
Widegren B, Árnason Ú, Akusjärvi G (1985) Characteristics of a conserved 1.579-bp highly repetitive component in the killer whale,Orcinus orca. Mol Biol Evol 2:411–419
Yablokov AV, Belkovich VM, Borisov VI (1972) Whales and dolphins. Nauka, Moscow [in Russian]
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Árnason, Ú., Allderdice, P.W., Lien, J. et al. Highly repetitive DNA in the Baleen whale generaBalaenoptera andMegaptera . J Mol Evol 27, 217–221 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02100077
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02100077