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The centromeric regions of potato chromosomes contain megabase-sized tandem arrays of telomere-similar sequence

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Abstract

Telomere-similar sequences have been found in non-telomeric regions in various eukaryotic species. Centromeric regions often harbor such interstitial telomeric repeats (ITRs). We isolated a 2.8 kb ITR, pSbTC1, in a diploid potato species Solanum bulbocastanum. DNA sequences related to the pSbTC1 family are widely distributed in different Solanum species. The pSbTC1-related sequences are organized into tandem arrays and located mainly in the centromeric regions of potato chromosomes. Most notably, the pSbTC1-related sequences have undergone extensive amplification and a single array can span up to multiple megabases. These results suggest that the pSbTC1-related sequences are not simple relics of ancient events in karyotype evolution, such as chromosomal fusions. We also demonstrated that the pSbTC1-related sequences are heavily methylated and are associated with highly condensed centromeric heterochromatin.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Junqi Song for his contribution to filter development and initial screening of the Solanum bulbocastanum BAC library and Dr. Kiyotaki Nagaki for his help in slot-blot hybridization. We are grateful to Dr. David Spooner for providing DNA samples of the Solanum species. This research is partially supported by Hatch funds to J.J. and a scholarship from the Ministry of Turkish National Education to A.L.T.

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  1. Department of Horticulture, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA

    Ahmet L. Tek & Jiming Jiang

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  1. Ahmet L. Tek
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  2. Jiming Jiang
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Correspondence to Jiming Jiang.

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Communicated by P. Moens

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Tek, A.L., Jiang, J. The centromeric regions of potato chromosomes contain megabase-sized tandem arrays of telomere-similar sequence. Chromosoma 113, 77–83 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00412-004-0297-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00412-004-0297-1

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