Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Molecular and cytological characterization of SspI-family repetitive sequence on the chicken W chromosome

  • Published:
Chromosome Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A genomic clone, pWS44, isolated from the chicken W chromosome-specific genomic library contained a partial (226-bp) sequence of a novel SspI-family repetitive sequence. A genomic clone, pWPRS09, containing a 508-bp SspI fragment (a repeating unit of the family) was subsequently obtained and sequenced. This 0.5-kb unit is tandemly repeated about 11 300 times. FISH to mitotic and lampbrush W chromosomes indicates that the SspI-family is located on the chromomere 6 between heterochromatic and distal non-heterochromatic regions on the short arm. The SspI-family sequence was proved to be a good positional marker in FISH mapping of active genes in the non-heterochromatic region on the lampbrush W chromosome. The presence of SspI-family repetitive sequence is limited to the genus Gallus (chickens and jungle fowls). The 0.5-kb repeating unit contains a 120-bp stretch of polypurine/polypyrimidine sequence (GGAGA repeats), shows no DNA curvature, and rapid electrophoretic mobility in 4% polyacrylamide gel at 4°C. The SspI-family forms a relatively diffused chromatin structure in nuclei. These features are distinctly different from those of XhoI- and EcoRI-family sequences on the W chromosome. The total amount of non-repetitive DNA in the chicken W chromosome is estimated to be about 10 Mb.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Chastain II PD, Eichler EE, Kang S, Nelson DL, Levene SD, Sinden RR (1995) Anomalous rapid electrophoretic mobility of DNA containing triplet repeats associated with human disease genes. Biochemistry 34: 16125-16131.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ellegren H (1996) First gene on the avian W chromosome (CHD) provides a tag for universal sexing of non-ratite birds. Proc R Soc Lond B 263: 1635-1641.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Frank-Kamenetskii MD, Mirkin SM (1995) Triplex DNA structures. Ann Rev Biochem 64: 65-95.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fridolfsson A-K, Cheng H, Copeland NG et al. (1998) Evolution of the avian sex chromosomes from an ancestral pair of autosomes. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 95: 8147-8152.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Graves JAM (2002) The rise and fall of SRY. TIG 18: 259-264.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hori T, Suzuki Y, Solovei I et al. (1996) Characterization of DNA sequences constituting the terminal heterochromatin of the chicken Z chromosome. Chromosome Res 4: 411-426.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hori T, Asakawa S, Itoh Y, Shimizu N, Mizuno S (2000) Wpkci, encoding an altered form of PKCI, is conserved widely on the avian W chromosome and expressed in early female embryos: Implication of its role in female sex determination. Mol Biol Cell 11: 3645-3660.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hutchison N (1987) Lampbrush chromosomes of the chicken, Gallus domesticus. J Cell Biol 105: 1493-1500.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Itoh Y, Ogawa A, Murata K, Hosoda T, Mizuno S (1997) Identification of the sex of Oriental white stork, Ciconia boyciana, by the polymerase chain reaction based on its sex chromosome-specific DNA sequences. Genes Genet Syst 72: 51-56.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Itoh Y, Hori T, Saitoh H, Mizuno S (2001) Chicken spindlin genes on W and Z chromosomes: transcriptional expression of both genes and dynamic behavior of spindlin in interphase and mitotic cells. Chromosome Res 9: 283-299.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kodama H, Saitoh H, Tone M, Kuhara S, Sakaki Y, Mizuno S (1987) Nucleotide sequences and unusual electrophoretic behavior of theWchromosome-specific repeating DNA units of the domestic fowl, Gallus gallus domesticus. Chromosoma 96: 18-25.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mizuno S, Macgregor H (1998) The ZW lampbrush chromosomes of birds: a unique opportunity to look at the molecular cytogenetics of sex chromosomes. Cytogenet Cell Genet 80: 149-157.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mizuno S, Tallman NA, Cox RF (1978) Estrogen withdrawal in chick oviduct: Characterization of RNA synthesized in isolated nuclei using a mercurated precursor. Biochim Biophys Acta 520: 184-202.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mizuno S, Saitoh Y, Nomura O et al. (1993) Sex-specific DNA sequences in Galliformes and their application to the study of sex differentiation. In: Etches RJ, Gibbins AMV, eds. Manipulation of the Avian Genome. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, pp 257-274.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ogawa A, Solovei I, Hutchison N et al. (1997) Molecular characterization and cytological mapping of a non-repetitive DNA sequence region from the W chromosome of chicken and its use as a universal probe for sexing Carinatae birds. Chromosome Res 5: 93-101.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ohno M, Fukagawa T, Lee JS, Ikemura T (2002) Triplex-forming DNAs in the human interphase nucleus visualized in situ by polypurine/polypyrimidine DNA probes and antitriplex antibodies. Chromosoma 111: 201-213.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ohyama T, Tsujibayashi H, Tagashira H et al. (1998) Suppression of electrophoretic anomaly of bent DNA segments by the structural property that causes rapid migration. Nucleic Acids Res 26: 4811-4817.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • O'Neill M, Binder M, Smith C et al. (2000) ASW: a gene with conserved avian W-linkage and female specific expression in chick embryonic gonad. Dev Genes Evol 210: 243-249.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rajagopal P, Feigon J (1989) Triple-strand formation in the homopurine: homopyrimidine DNA oligonucleotides d(G-A)4 and d(T-C4. Nature 339: 637-640.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Saitoh Y, Mizuno S (1992) Distribution of XhoI and EcoRI family repetitive DNA sequences into separate domains in the chicken W chromosome. Chromosoma 101: 474-477.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Saitoh Y, Saitoh H, Ohtomo K, Mizuno S (1991) Occupancy of the majority of DNA in the chicken W chromosome by bent-repetitive sequences. Chromosoma 101: 32-40.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Solari AJ (1977) Ultrastructure of the synaptic autosomes and the ZW bivalent in chicken oocytes. Chromosoma 64: 155-165.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Solovei I, Gaginskaya E, Hutchison N, Macgregor HC (1993) Avian sex chromosomes in the lampbrush form: the ZW lampbrush bivalents from six species of bird. Chromosome Res 1: 153-166.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Solovei I, Gaginskaya ER, Macgregor HC (1994) The arrangement and transcription of telomere DNA sequences at the ends of lampbrush chromosomes of birds. Chromosome Res 2: 460-470.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Solovei I, Joffe BI, Gaginskaya ER, Macgregor HC (1996) Transcription on lampbrush chromosomes of a centromerically localized highly repeated DNA in pigeon (Columba) relates to sequence arrangement. Chromosome Res 4: 588-603.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Solovei I, Ogawa A, Naito M, Mizuno S, Macgregor H (1998) Specific chromomeres on the chicken W lampbrush chromosome contain specific repetitive DNA sequence families. Chromosome Res 6: 323-327.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Suka N, ShinoharaY, Saitoh Y et al. (1993) W-heterochromatin of chickens; its unusual DNA components, late replication, and chromatin structure. Genetica 88: 93-105.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tenzen T, Yamagata T, Fukagawa T et al. (1997) Precise switching of DNA replication timing in the GC content transition area in the human major histocompatibility complex. Mol Cell Biol 17: 4043-4050.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Teranishi M, Shimada Y, Hori T et al. (2001) Transcripts of the MHM region on the chicken Z chromosome accumulate as non-coding RNA in the nucleus of female cells adjacent to DMRT1 locus. Chromosome Res 9: 147-165.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tone M, Sakaki Y, Hashiguchi T, Mizuno S (1984) Genus specificity and extensive methylation of the W chromosome-specific repetitive DNA sequences from the domestic fowl, Gallus gallus domesticus. Chromosoma 89: 228-237.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University, 1-1 Tsutsumidori-Amamiyamachi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 981-8555, Japan

    Yuichiro Itoh

  2. Department of Agricultural and Biological Chemistry, College of Bioresource Sciences, Nihon University, 1866 Kameino, Fujisawa, 252-8510, Japan

    Shigeki Mizuno

Authors
  1. Yuichiro Itoh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Shigeki Mizuno
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Itoh, Y., Mizuno, S. Molecular and cytological characterization of SspI-family repetitive sequence on the chicken W chromosome. Chromosome Res 10, 499–511 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020944414750

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020944414750

Search

Navigation