Telomere-associated repeats in Chironomus form discrete subfamilies generated by gene conversion (original) (raw)
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Summary
In dipteran insects the most distal telomere-associated DNA known to exist consists of long, complex tandem repeats. We have classified the 340-bp tandemly arranged repeats in Chironomus pallidivittatus. The repeats are distributed in a small number of subfamilies. One type of the repeat has the character of a master unit from which other main units can be derived usually by simple changes. The derived subfamilies contain segments that are degenerate versions of the corresponding segment in the master sequence. Such segments can also occur together in one and the same repeat unit in different combinations. There is a complete absence of subfamily-specific base variants in regions lying outside of the degenerate segments. Homogenization takes place between DNA sequences that are often smaller than a whole repeat unit. The mosaic structure of the repeat arrays suggests that gene conversion is an important force in the generation and maintenance of this family of repeats.
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- Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Lund, S-22362, Sölvegatan 29, Lund, Sweden
Marita Cohn & Jan-Erik Edström
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- Marita Cohn
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Cohn, M., Edström, JE. Telomere-associated repeats in Chironomus form discrete subfamilies generated by gene conversion.J Mol Evol 35, 114–122 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00183222
- Received: 03 February 1992
- Revised: 17 March 1992
- Issue Date: August 1992
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00183222