Sequence conservation of an avian centromeric repeated DNA component

Abstract

The approximately 190-bp centromeric repeat monomers of the spur-winged lapwing (Vanellus spinosus, Charadriidae), the Chilean flamingo (Phoenicopterus chilensis, Phoenicopteridae), the sarus crane (Grus antigone, Gruidae), parrots (Psittacidae), waterfowl (Anatidae), and the merlin (Falco columbarius, Falconidae) contain elements that are interspecifically highly variable, as well as elements (trinucleotides and higher order oligonucleotides) that are highly conserved in sequence and relative location within the repeat. Such conservation suggests that the centromeric repeats of these avian species have evolved from a common ancestral sequence that may date from very early stages of avian radiation.

Conserved patterns in the evolution of Tribolium satellite DNAs

“…Structural features similar to those found in Tribolium satellites are characteristic for centromeric satellite of dipteran species C. palidivitattus (Lopez and Edströ m, 1998). Avian species, however, share a centromeric satellite family that has short oligonucleotide tracts conserved in sequence and in position while the rest of the sequence is highly divergent (Madsen et al, 1994).…”

Analysis of the 5S RNA Pool in Arabidopsis thaliana: RNAs Are Heterogeneous and Only Two of the Genomic 5S Loci Produce Mature 5S RNA

“…Some satellites can also be highly homogeneous, despite the absence of obvious functional significance, and are present in homologous genome locations in closely related species (fish: Franck and Wright, 1993;Drosophila: Bachmann and Sperlich, 1993;Heikkinen et al 1995;Triticeae: Vershinin et al 1996;and Insecta: Mestrovic et al 2000). Other satellites may be under functional constraints to conserve short sequence motifs such as those found in avian satellite (Madsen et al 1994), in primate ␣ satellite (Romanova et al 1996), or in the Arabidopsis 180-bp satellite (Heslop-Harrison et al 1999). Satellite sequences have often been considered "junk" DNA, but DNA "bulk" surrounding the centromere seems to be necessary for eukaryotic chromosome function.…”

Molecular cloning and characterization of novel centromeric repetitive DNA sequences in the blue-breasted quail (<i>Coturnix chinensis</i>, Galliformes)

“…Structures and genomic organization of these repeated sequences are quite similar among these three species, but the sequence homologies are less than 50 %, suggesting that these types of sequences were genusspecific and diverged rapidly in the process of speciation. In other orders, the centromeric highly repetitive sequences have been isolated and characterized in Falconiformes (Longmire et al, 1988), Gruiformes (Chen et al, 1989), Psittaciformes (Madsen et al, 1992), Charadriiformes (Madsen et al, 1994), Columbiformes (Solovei et al, 1996) and Passeriformes (Saifitdinova et al, 2001). Several sex chromosome-specific repetitive sequences have also been isolated from three Galliformes species, chicken (Tone et al, 1984;Kodama et al, 1987), turkey and Japanese common pheasant (Phasianus versicolor) (Saitoh et al, 1989), and from one Ciconiiformes species, the lesser black-backed gull (Larus fuscus) (Griffiths and Holland, 1990).…”