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Nucleic Acids Research, 1983, Vol. 11, No. 2 291-304
© 1983

MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

The independent evolution of two closely related satellite DNA elements in rats(Rattus)

Frank R. Witney and Anthony V. Furano

Laboratory of Biochemical Pharmacology, National Institute of Arthritis, Diabetes, and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health Building 4, Room 116, Bethesda, MD 20205, USA

Received October 5, 1982. Revised December 3, 1982. Accepted December 3, 1982.

We have identified and determined the sequence and organization of a new rat satellite DNA in Rattus rattus, the roof rat. This satellite DNA, which we call R. rattus satellite I', consists of tandem arrays of a 185 base pair (bp) repeat unit that we call a' a' is 86% homologous to a 185 bp portion of the 370 bp repeat unit of the previously described rat satellite [Pech et al. (1979) Nucleic Acids Res. 7, 417 -432] present in the common laboratory rat species, R. norvegicus. We can there by distinguish two 185 bp portions of the satellite I 370 bp repeat unit: "a" (homlogous to a') and "b". Satellite I has the structure (a,b)n, and satellite I' has the structure (a') n. Like a, a' is only about 60% homologous to b and fails to hybridize to b. Although R. norvegicus and R. rattus contain about the same total concentration of satellite sequences, R. norvegicus contains essentially only the a, b type (satellite I'), whereas R. rattus contains a' type (satellite I') and lesser amounts of the a, b type( satellite I'). The a,b type (satellite I') in R. rattus is very similar to that in R. norvegicus as judged both by hybridization and by the presence of all but one of the major restriction enzymesites that characterize the R. norvegicus satellite I. In R. rattus the a' and a,b repeat units are not detectably present in the same tandem array. All of the sequence differences between a' (R. rattus) and a (R. norvegicus) can be accounted for by simple base substitutions, and the implication of this and other features of rat satellite DNA structure for satellite DNA evolution are discussed.


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