Longitudinal differentiation of the human Yq heterochromatin as revealed by the restriction enzyme TaqI

The restriction endonuclease TaqI cleaves DNA at TCGA sites which are very common in human satellite DNAs. However, this enzyme was not used successfully up to now to digest constitutive heterochromatin of human chromosomes, where those highly repetitive DNAs are preferentially located. In this work, we show that TaqI is able to cut and extract DNA from the major heterochromatic regions on chromosomes 1, 9, 15, and 16 which appear as unstained gaps. Yq heterochromatin displays moderate digestion along its entire length but a middle region can be distinguished which is usually more affected. Complete digestion of Yq heterochromatin can be achieved when this block has been previously undercondensed by treating cell cultures with the cytidine analog, 5-azacytidine. Thus, it may be deduced that some factors related to chromatin organization might be involved in the action of TaqI. These results come to reinforce previous data about heterogeneity of Yq heterochromatin, and allow us to subdivide it into three different regions according to their differential response to TaqI digestion.