Home LiteratureArticle Details
PMID: 8565699 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

DNA organization and polymorphism of a wild-type Drosophila telomere region.

Chromosoma ·Vol. 104 ·No. 4 ·1995-12-00 ·Pages 229-41

Walter MF, Jang C, Kasravi B, Donath J, Mechler BM, Mason JM, Biessmann H

Abstract

Telomeres at the ends of linear chromosomes of eukaryotes protect the chromosome termini from degradation and fusion. While telomeric replication/elongation mechanisms have been studied extensively, the functions of subterminal sequences are less well understood. In general, subterminal regions can be quite polymorphic, varying in size from organism to organism, and differing among chromosomes within an organism. The subterminal regions of Drosophila melanogaster are not well characterized today, and it is not known which and how many different components they contain. Here we present the molecular characterization of DNA components and their organization in the subterminal region of the left arm of chromosome 2 of the Oregon RC wild-type strain of D. melanogaster, including a minisatellite with a 457bp repeat length. Two distinct polymorphic arrangements at 2L were found and analyzed, supporting the Drosophila telomere elongation model by retrotransposition. The high incidence of terminal chromosome deficiencies occurring in natural Drosophila populations is discussed in view of the telomere structure at 2L.

MeSH Terms
Animals Base Sequence Cloning, Molecular DNA, Satellite Drosophila melanogaster/genetics Genes, Insect In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence Larva/genetics Molecular Sequence Data Polymorphism, Genetic Restriction Mapping Retroelements Sequence Analysis, DNA Telomere/genetics
Chemicals
DNA, Satellite Retroelements
Authors & Affiliations
7 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Walter M F
Developmental Biology Center, University of California, Irvine, CA 92717, USA.
Jang C
Kasravi B
Donath J
Mechler B M
Mason J M
Biessmann H
References (67)
67 references, click to expand
  1. Preferential transposition of Drosophila P elements to nearby chromosomal sites.
    Genetics. 1993 Feb;133(2):347-59 PMID: 8382177
  2. Host/vector interactions which affect the viability of recombinant phage lambda clones.
    Gene. 1986;49(2):253-62 PMID: 2952553
  3. Functional analysis of the white gene of Drosophila by P-factor-mediated transformation.
    EMBO J. 1984 Sep;3(9):2077-85 PMID: 16453549
  4. Hypervariable telomeric sequences from the human sex chromosomes are pseudoautosomal.
    Nature. 1985 Oct 24-30;317(6039):687-92 PMID: 2997619
  5. Chromosome ends in Drosophila without telomeric DNA sequences.
    Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1990 Mar;87(5):1758-61 PMID: 2308935
  6. The unusual telomeres of Drosophila.
    Trends Genet. 1995 Feb;11(2):58-62 PMID: 7716808
  7. Isolation and characterization of a human telomere.
    Nucleic Acids Res. 1989 Aug 11;17(15):6109-27 PMID: 2549507
  8. Subrepeats result from regional DNA sequence conservation in tandem repeats in Chironomus telomeres.
    J Mol Biol. 1990 Dec 5;216(3):577-84 PMID: 2258933
  9. Highly reiterated non-coding sequence in the genome of Plasmodium falciparum is composed of 21 base-pair tandem repeats.
    J Mol Biol. 1985 Oct 5;185(3):509-16 PMID: 3903166
  10. Transformation of white locus DNA in drosophila: dosage compensation, zeste interaction, and position effects.
    Cell. 1984 Feb;36(2):469-81 PMID: 6319027
  11. Arrangement and localization of the human GM-CSF receptor alpha chain gene CSF2RA within the X-Y pseudoautosomal region.
    Genomics. 1992 Oct;14(2):455-61 PMID: 1358805
  12. Long insertions within telomeres contribute to chromosome size polymorphism in Plasmodium berghei.
    Mol Cell Biol. 1990 Dec;10(12):6759-64 PMID: 2174115
  13. Evolutionary relations between subtypes of telomere-associated repeats in Chironomus.
    J Mol Evol. 1991 Jun;32(6):463-8 PMID: 1908017
  14. Structure of the l(2)gl gene of Drosophila and delimitation of its tumor suppressor domain.
    Cell. 1987 Jul 17;50(2):215-25 PMID: 3036370
  15. Homologous recombination within subtelomeric repeat sequences generates chromosome size polymorphisms in P. falciparum.
    Cell. 1988 Jun 3;53(5):807-13 PMID: 3286016
  16. Frequent transpositions of Drosophila melanogaster HeT-A transposable elements to receding chromosome ends.
    EMBO J. 1992 Dec;11(12):4459-69 PMID: 1330538
  17. Expansions of transgene repeats cause heterochromatin formation and gene silencing in Drosophila.
    Cell. 1994 Jul 1;77(7):993-1002 PMID: 8020105
  18. Chromosome ends in Chironomus pallidivittatus contain different subfamilies of telomere-associated repeats.
    Chromosoma. 1992 Oct;101(10):634-40 PMID: 1424988
  19. Addition of telomere-associated HeT DNA sequences "heals" broken chromosome ends in Drosophila.
    Cell. 1990 May 18;61(4):663-73 PMID: 2111731
  20. An interspersed repeated sequence specific for human subtelomeric regions.
    EMBO J. 1990 Feb;9(2):505-14 PMID: 2303040
  21. Chromosomal sites necessary for normal levels of meiotic recombination in Drosophila melanogaster. I. Evidence for and mapping of the sites.
    Genetics. 1980 Mar;94(3):625-46 PMID: 6772522
  22. Long tandem arrays of complex repeat units in Chironomus telomeres.
    EMBO J. 1985 Mar;4(3):799-804 PMID: 4006906
  23. HeT-A, a transposable element specifically involved in "healing" broken chromosome ends in Drosophila melanogaster.
    Mol Cell Biol. 1992 Sep;12(9):3910-8 PMID: 1324409
  24. The mammalian pseudoautosomal region.
    Trends Genet. 1989 Dec;5(12):406-10 PMID: 2696184
  25. B104, a new dispersed repeated gene family in Drosophila melanogaster and its analogies with retroviruses.
    J Mol Biol. 1982 May 25;157(3):435-51 PMID: 6181263
  26. Pseudoautosomal DNA sequences in the pairing region of the human sex chromosomes.
    Nature. 1985 Oct 24-30;317(6039):692-7 PMID: 2997620
  27. Two highly polymorphic minisatellites from the pseudoautosomal region of the human sex chromosomes.
    EMBO J. 1987 Apr;6(4):963-9 PMID: 3595565
  28. Structure and polymorphism of human telomere-associated DNA.
    Cell. 1990 Oct 5;63(1):119-32 PMID: 2208276
  29. Effects of genomic position on the expression of transduced copies of the white gene of Drosophila.
    Science. 1985 Aug 9;229(4713):558-61 PMID: 2992080
  30. Transposition of the LINE-like retrotransposon TART to Drosophila chromosome termini.
    Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1994 Dec 20;91(26):12510-4 PMID: 7809068
  31. Complex telomere-associated repeat units in members of the genus Chironomus evolve from sequences similar to simple telomeric repeats.
    Mol Cell Biol. 1993 Mar;13(3):1583-9 PMID: 8441399
  32. Position effect variegation in Drosophila is associated with an altered chromatin structure.
    Genes Dev. 1995 May 15;9(10):1263-77 PMID: 7758950
  33. Genetic analysis of a Drosophila microtubule-associated protein.
    J Cell Biol. 1992 Jan;116(2):377-83 PMID: 1309812
  34. Stable length polymorphism of up to 260 kb at the tip of the short arm of human chromosome 16.
    Cell. 1991 Feb 8;64(3):595-606 PMID: 1991321
  35. Rearrangements of highly polymorphic regions near telomeres of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
    Mol Cell Biol. 1984 Nov;4(11):2509-17 PMID: 6392854
  36. Genetic instability in Drosophila melanogaster: the induction of specific chromosome 2 deletions by MR elements.
    Genetics. 1979 Jul;92(3):823-32 PMID: 119664
  37. Progressive loss of DNA sequences from terminal chromosome deficiencies in Drosophila melanogaster.
    EMBO J. 1988 Apr;7(4):1081-6 PMID: 2841109
  38. Organization of Plasmodium falciparum genome: 1. Evidence for a highly repeated DNA sequence.
    Nucleic Acids Res. 1985 Mar 25;13(6):1965-75 PMID: 4000949
  39. Terminal Adhesions of Salivary Gland Chromosomes in Drosophila.
    Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1941 Nov 15;27(11):491-6 PMID: 16588490
  40. Basic local alignment search tool.
    J Mol Biol. 1990 Oct 5;215(3):403-10 PMID: 2231712
  41. A molecular description of telometic heterochromatin in secale species.
    Cell. 1980 Feb;19(2):545-60 PMID: 6244112
  42. Telomere-associated repeats in Chironomus form discrete subfamilies generated by gene conversion.
    J Mol Evol. 1992 Aug;35(2):114-22 PMID: 1501251
  43. Cohabitation of scaffold binding regions with upstream/enhancer elements of three developmentally regulated genes of D. melanogaster.
    Cell. 1986 Aug 15;46(4):521-30 PMID: 3015418
  44. Complex gene conversion events in germline mutation at human minisatellites.
    Nat Genet. 1994 Feb;6(2):136-45 PMID: 8162067
  45. Analysis of subtelomeric heterochromatin in the Drosophila minichromosome Dp1187 by single P element insertional mutagenesis.
    Genetics. 1992 Nov;132(3):737-53 PMID: 1334894
  46. Structure of the Drosophila HeT-A transposon: a retrotransposon-like element forming telomeres.
    Chromosoma. 1994 Jun;103(3):215-24 PMID: 7924625
  47. A repetitive DNA element, associated with telomeric sequences in Drosophila melanogaster, contains open reading frames.
    Chromosoma. 1992 Dec;102(1):32-40 PMID: 1291227
  48. Telomeric motifs are present in a highly repetitive element in the Plasmodium berghei genome.
    Mol Biochem Parasitol. 1987 Jun;24(2):193-202 PMID: 3041211
  49. Viable deletions of a telomere from a Drosophila chromosome.
    Cell. 1989 Aug 25;58(4):791-801 PMID: 2548737
  50. Molecular cloning of lethal(2)giant larvae, a recessive oncogene of Drosophila melanogaster.
    EMBO J. 1985 Jun;4(6):1551-7 PMID: 3928370
  51. Subtelomeric regions of yeast chromosomes contain a 36 base-pair tandemly repeated sequence.
    Nucleic Acids Res. 1984 Sep 25;12(18):7105-21 PMID: 6091055
  52. Molecular organization of a Drosophila puff site that responds to ecdysone.
    Cell. 1982 Jan;28(1):165-76 PMID: 6279311
  53. Structure and variability of human chromosome ends.
    Mol Cell Biol. 1990 Feb;10(2):518-27 PMID: 2300052
  54. Transposons in place of telomeric repeats at a Drosophila telomere.
    Cell. 1993 Dec 17;75(6):1083-93 PMID: 8261510
  55. An irregular satellite sequence is found at the termini of the linear extrachromosomal rDNA in Dictyostelium discoideum.
    Cell. 1981 Nov;26(3 Pt 1):411-9 PMID: 6276016
  56. An alternative pathway for yeast telomere maintenance rescues est1- senescence.
    Cell. 1993 Apr 23;73(2):347-60 PMID: 8477448
  57. Comparison of two active HeT-A retroposons of Drosophila melanogaster.
    Chromosoma. 1994 Apr;103(2):90-8 PMID: 8055715
  58. mu-2: mutator gene in Drosophila that potentiates the induction of terminal deficiencies.
    Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1984 Oct;81(19):6090-4 PMID: 6435123
  59. Genetics and molecular biology of telomeres.
    Adv Genet. 1992;30:185-249 PMID: 1456111
  60. The mechanism of meiotic homologue pairing.
    J Theor Biol. 1984 Feb 21;106(4):605-15 PMID: 6423910
  61. Chromosomes of malaria parasites.
    Trends Genet. 1989 Oct;5(10):337-42 PMID: 2692241
  62. Telomeres and the functional architecture of the nucleus.
    Trends Cell Biol. 1993 Apr;3(4):128-34 PMID: 14731767
  63. The genomic organization of HeT-A retroposons in Drosophila melanogaster.
    Chromosoma. 1993 May;102(5):297-305 PMID: 8391971
  64. Evolution of a telomere associated satellite DNA sequence in the genome of Drosophila tristis and related species.
    Genetica. 1990;83(1):9-16 PMID: 2090564
  65. Characterisation of a repetitive DNA sequence from the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum.
    Mol Biochem Parasitol. 1986 Jan;18(1):89-101 PMID: 2938003
  66. A map of the distal region of the long arm of human chromosome 21 constructed by radiation hybrid mapping and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis.
    Genomics. 1991 Jan;9(1):19-30 PMID: 2004760
  67. The capacity of the fourth chromosome of Drosophila melanogaster to establish end-to-end contacts with the other chromosomes in salivary-gland cells.
    Chromosoma. 1969;26(4):395-409 PMID: 5820702
Article Info
Journal
Chromosoma
Abbr.
Chromosoma
ISSN
0009-5915
DOI
10.1007/BF00352254
Published
1995-12-00
Pages
229-41
Language
English
Region
Austria
NLM ID
2985138R
Subset
IM
Grants
NIGMS NIH HHS · GM46211 · United States
Databases
GENBANK
U35403, U35404
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1007/BF00352254 View journal details
Analysis Services
Analysis Services

Contact

No. 2 Wenbo Road, Zhangqiu District, Jinan, Shandong

Qilu Normal University · Genelibs Bioinformatics Lab

750 Shunhua Rd, Jinan

2F, Bldg F, University Science Park

Tel: 0531-88819269

WeChat Official Account

Follow our WeChat subscription account for real-time updates and the latest in medical and biological research.


Business Email

E-mail: [email protected]

Copyright © 2026.Genelibs Jinan Honghui Biotechnology Co., Ltd. 鲁ICP备20007159号-2