title: Rapid evolution of horse satellite DNA.
abstract: The major satellite of the horse genome consists of about 1 million copies of a 221-bp tandem repeat unit. By fluorescence in situ hybridization it has been localized in the centromeres of 58 of the 64 horse chromosomes. The donkey genome contains a similar but not identical satellite. Strikingly, the equine repeat did not hybridize to DNA of the Grevy zebra, despite the divergence of the horse and zebra only 3 to 5 million years ago and the ability of these species to crossbreed. The evolution of satellite DNA in the Equidae is more rapid than that in other mammalian families, which may be explained by their rapid karyotypic evolution.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: E R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Wijers
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zijlstra
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Lenstra
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004276:DNA, Satellite / Q000235:genetics*; D005787:Gene Frequency; D006736:Horses / Q000235:genetics*; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family
chemical_list: D004276:DNA, Satellite