M13 repeat probe detects DNA minisatellite-like sequences in gymnosperms and angiosperms.

Several kinds of minisatellite DNA, all of which are composed of low to moderately repetitive DNA, have been identified in tetrapod genomes. While the repeating oligonucleotide elements (subrepeats) of a given minisatellite are virtually identical, subrepeat nucleotide composition differs between different minisatellites. Several minisatellites have exhibited moderate to high levels of restriction length polymorphism in a number of tetrapods. Such hypervariable markers provide powerful tools for genetic analyses in several fields of biology. Minisatellite applications have been restricted to tetrapods, but here we demonstrate that one probe, the M13 repeat probe previously used to detect minisatellites in humans and bovines, also reveals minisatellite-bearing endonuclease fragments in gymnosperms and angiosperms. While the plant minisatellites appear to be somatically stable within an individual, they often vary within species in potentially useful ways. These results demonstrate that minisatellite-like families may be distributed over a wide taxonomic range in eukaryotes, opening the possibility of a commensurately wide utility of minisatellite probes in genetic analyses.