Nucleic Acids Research, 1983, Vol. 11, No. 4 971-986
© 1983
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY |
Histone gene number and organisation in Xenopus: Xenopus borealis has a homogeneous major cluster
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Warwick Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
Received December 23, 1982. Accepted January 25, 1983.
Using a Xenopus laevis H4 cDNA clone as a probe we have determined that the numbers of H4 histone genes in Xenopuslaevis andXenopus borealis are approximately the same. These numbers are dependent on the hybridization stringency and we measure about 90 H4 genes per haploid genome after a 60°C wash in 3 X SSC. Using histone probes from both Xenopus and sea urchin we have studied the genomlc organization of histone genes in these two species. In all of the X. borealis individuals analyzed about 70% of the histone genes were present in a very homogeneous major cluster. These genes are present in the order HI, H2B, H2A, H4 and H3, and the minimum length of the repeated unit is 16kb. In contrast, the histone gene clusters in X. laevis showed considerable sequence variation. However two major cluster types with different gene orders seem to be present in most individuals. The differences in histone gene organization seen in species of Xenopus suggest that even in closely related vertebrates the major histone gene clusters are quite fluid structures in evolutionary terms.
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