title: Variation in copy number of a 24-base pair tandem repeat in the chloroplast DNA of Oenothera hookeri strain Johansen.
abstract: A highly variable region of chloroplast DNA has been analyzed from three isolates of Oenothera hookeri strain Johansen. The variability results from the presence of two, four or seven copies of a discrete 24-base pair tandem repeat in a segment of the chloroplast DNA within the inverted repeat. Alignment of this DNA region with the published tobacco cpDNA sequence shows that in Oenothera, the repeats are insertions within a large unidentified reading frame, with each repeat unit specifying an eight amino acid in-frame addition. A model to explain the frequent alterations in the copy number of this 24-bp unit is proposed: imprecise alignment and recombination between the two large inverted repeats followed by copy correction could result in an amplification or deletion of the 24-bp segments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Michigan State University, East Lansing 48824.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Blasko
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Kaplan
authors.forename: K G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Higgins
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wolfson
authors.forename: B B
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Sears
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D002736:Chloroplasts / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004247:DNA; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010944:Plants / Q000235:genetics*; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D015183:Restriction Mapping
chemical_list: D004247:DNA