Alpha satellite DNA in neotropical primates (Platyrrhini)

The alpha satellite DNA of Old World (catarrhine) primates usually consists of similar, but not identical, ca. 170 bp sequences repeated tandemly hundreds to thousands of times. The 170 bp monomeric repeats are components of higher-order repeats, many of which are chromosome specific. Alpha satellit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Chromosoma 1994-07, Vol.103 (4), p.262-267
Main Authors: ALVES, G, SUEANEZ, H. N, FANNING, T
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Base Sequence
Biological and medical sciences
Blotting, Southern
Callicebus moloch
Cebidae - genetics
Cebuella pygmaea
Chromosomes
Conserved Sequence
DNA, Satellite - genetics
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Genes. Genome
In Situ Hybridization
Molecular and cellular biology
Molecular genetics
Molecular Sequence Data
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Summary:The alpha satellite DNA of Old World (catarrhine) primates usually consists of similar, but not identical, ca. 170 bp sequences repeated tandemly hundreds to thousands of times. The 170 bp monomeric repeats are components of higher-order repeats, many of which are chromosome specific. Alpha satellites are found exclusively in centromeric regions where they appear to play a role in centromere function. We have found that alpha satellite DNA in neotropical (New World; platyrrhine) primates is very similar to its Old World counterpart: it consists of divergent ca. 170 bp subsequences that are arranged in tandem arrays with a ca. 340 bp periodicity. New and Old World alpha satellites share about 64% sequence identity overall, and contain several short sequence motifs that appear to be highly conserved. One exception to the tandemly arrayed 340 bp motif has been found: the major alpha satellite array in Chiropotes satanas (black bearded saki) has a 539 bp repeat unit that consists of a 338 bp dimer together with a duplication of 33 bp of the first monomeric unit and 168 bp of the second monomeric unit.
ISSN:0009-5915
1432-0886
DOI:10.1007/BF00352250