title: Resolution of Acanthamoeba castellanii chromosomes by pulsed field gel electrophoresis and construction of the initial linkage map.
abstract: Pulsed field gel electrophoresis has been used to resolve chromosome-sized DNA molecules in fungi and parasites but has not yet been used successfully to examine the chromosomes of other lower eukaryotes used extensively for biochemical research such as Acanthamoeba, Physarum, and Dictyostelium. Here we show an electrophoretic karyotype of the protozoan Acanthamoeba castellanii using orthogonal field alternating gel electrophoresis (OFAGE). There are about 20 small chromosomes ranging in size from 220 kb to greater than 2 Mb. We have assembled initial linkage groups assigning all of the cloned Acanthamoeba genes to chromosome-sized DNA molecules. Actin, suggested to have three or more non-allelic genes, maps to at least eight distinct chromosome bands. Two myosin II genes localize to two different chromosomal bands while myosin IB and 18S rRNA map to unresolved larger chromosomes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Johns Hopkins Medical School, Baltimore, MD 21205.
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Rimm
authors.forename: T D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Pollard
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hieter
mesh_terms: D000048:Acanthamoeba / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D015342:DNA Probes; D004587:Electrophoresis, Agar Gel; D008040:Genetic Linkage; D007621:Karyotyping
chemical_list: D015342:DNA Probes