Evolution of a telomere associated satellite DNA sequence in the genome ofDrosophila tristis and related species

A highly repetitive satellite DNA sequence from the genome ofDrosophila tristis with a length of 181 bp has been cloned in the pUC plasmid. The sequence hybridizes to the telomeres of all chromosomes but the Y ofD. tristis and produces a ladderlike hybridization pattern with filterbound genomic DNA ofD. tristis digested with Eco RI or Pst I with the hybridization bands at fragment lengths in multiples of 181 bp. A similar pattern is found when the genomic DNA comes fromD. ambigua or, though less clear, fromD. microlabis. Additional bands appear in the zones of high fragment lengths, too. InD. obscura andD. kitumensis, however, the 181 bp sequence is found in fragments with a length of a few kb only. The 181 bp sequence is tandemly arranged in the genome ofD. tristis and has a copy number of about 82,000 per haploid genome (i.e. 10 per cent of the total DNA). A sequence comparison among four independently cloned copies of the family fromD. tristis and another homologous sequence fromD. obscura, found by chance, shows a one to six per cent variation in basepair composition. However, low divergence (only one per cent) between two copies ofD. tristis and between the one ofD. obscura and one ofD. tristis was observed, and high divergence (six per cent) between these two pairs. This is discussed and explained as the evolutionary consequence of an existing homogenization process by unequal crossing over.