A 1.5 kb repeat sequence flanks the suppressor of forked gene at the euchromatin-heterochromatin boundary of the Drosophila melanogaster X chromosome

Abstract

A 1.5 kilobasepair repeated DNA sequence is duplicated in direct orientation so as to flank the suppressor of forked gene in the euchromatin-heterochromatin transition region on the X chromosome of Drosophila melanogaster. These two copies are almost identical, but DNA blotting, analysis of cloned sequences and database searches show that elsewhere in the genome, homologous sequences are poorly conserved. They are often associated with other repeats, suggesting that they may belong to a scrambled and clustered middle repetitive DNA family. The sequences do not appear to be related to transposable elements and their location in different strains is conserved. In situ hybridization to metaphase chromosomes shows that homologous sequences are concentrated in the pericentric regions of the autosomes and the X chromosome. The sequences are not significantly under-represented in DNA from polytene tissue and must lie in the replicated regions of polytene chromosomes. The almost perfect conservation of the two repeats around suppressor of forked in D. melanogaster suggests they arose by duplication or gene conversion. Suppression of recombination in this chromosomal region presumably allows this unusual organization to be stably maintained. In the X-ray induced allele, suppressor of forked-L26, the sequence between the repeats, including the gene, and one copy of the repeat have been deleted.