Microdissection and sequence analysis of pericentric heterochromatin from the Drosophila melanogastermutant Suppressor of Underreplication.
In the Suppressor of Underreplication( SuUR) mutant strain of Drosophila melanogaster, the heterochromatin of polytene chromosomes is not underreplicated and, as a consequence, a number of beta-heterochromatic regions acquire a banded structure. The chromocenter does not form in these polytene chromosomes, and heterochromatic regions, normally part of the chromocenter, become accessible to cytological analysis. We generated four genomic DNA libraries from specific heterochromatic regions by microdissection of polytene chromosomes. In situ hybridization of individual libraries onto SuUR polytene chromosomes shows that repetitive DNA sequences spread into the neighboring euchromatic regions. This observation allows the localization of eu-heterochromatin transition zones on polytene chromosomes. We find that genomic scaffolds from the eu-heterochromatin transition zones are enriched in repetitive DNA sequences homologous to those flanking the suppressor of forked gene [ su(f) repeat]. We isolated and sequenced about 300 clones from the heterochromatic DNA libraries obtained. Most of the clones contain repetitive DNA sequences; however, some of the clones have unique DNA sequences shared with parts of unmapped genomic scaffolds. Hybridization of these clones onto SuUR polytene chromosomes allowed us to assign the cytological localizations of the corresponding genomic scaffolds within heterochromatin. Our results demonstrate that the SuUR mutant renders possible the mapping of heterochromatic scaffolds on polytene chromosomes.
Moshkin
Yuri M
YM
Department of Zoology and Animal Biology, University of Geneva, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland.
Belyakin
Stepan N
SN
Rubtsov
Nikolay B
NB
Kokoza
Elena B
EB
Alekseyenko
Artem A
AA
Volkova
Elena I
EI
Belyaeva
Elena S
ES
Makunin
Igor V
IV
Spierer
Pierre
P
Zhimulev
Igor F
IF
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D017931:DNA Primers; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics*; D006570:Heterochromatin / Q000235:genetics*; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
D017931:DNA Primers; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D006570:Heterochromatin; C464850:SuUR protein, Drosophila