Hidden heterochromatin: characterization in the Rodentia species Cricetus cricetus, Peromyscus eremicus (Cricetidae) and Praomys tullbergi (Muridae)

Genetics and Molecular Biology

Ana Paço¹  Filomena Adega¹  Henrique Guedes-pinto¹  Raquel Chaves¹ 

[1] ,University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro Centre of Genetics and Biotechnology Institute for Biotechnology and BioengineeringVila Real,Portugal

关键词: constitutive heterochromatin;    in situ restriction endonuclease digestion;    Rodentia;   

DOI  :  10.1590/S1415-47572009000100009

来源: SciELO

【 摘 要 】

The use of in situ restriction endonuclease (RE) (which cleaves DNA at specific sequences) digestion has proven to be a useful technique in improving the dissection of constitutive heterochromatin (CH), and in the understanding of the CH evolution in different genomes. In the present work we describe in detail the CH of the three Rodentia species, Cricetus cricetus, Peromyscus eremicus (family Cricetidae) and Praomys tullbergi (family Muridae) using a panel of seven REs followed by C-banding. Comparison of the amount, distribution and molecular nature of C-positive heterochromatin revealed molecular heterogeneity in the heterochromatin of the three species. The large number of subclasses of CH identified in Praomys tullbergi chromosomes indicated that the karyotype of this species is the more derived when compared with the other two genomes analyzed, probably originated by a great number of complex chromosomal rearrangements. The high level of sequence heterogeneity identified in the CH of the three genomes suggests the coexistence of different satellite DNA families, or variants of these families in these genomes.

【 授权许可】

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