Structure and organization of the highly repeated and interspersed 1.3 kb EcoRI-Bg1II sequence family in mice.

EcoRI digestion of total mouse DNA yields a prominant 1.3 kb fragment amounting to between 1 and 2% of the mouse genome. The majority of the 1.3 kb EcoRI fragments have a single Bg1II site 800 bp from one end. This EcoRI-Bg1II sequence family shows HindIII and HaeIII sequence heterogeneity. We have cloned representatives of the EcoRI-Bg1II gene family in Charon 16A and studied their structure and organization within the genome. The cloned 1.3 kb fragments show the expected restriction enzyme patterns as well as additional heterogeneity. Representatives of the EcoRI-Bg1II sequence family were found to be interspersed throughout the mouse genome as judged by CsCl density gradient centrifugation experiments. Family members were also found to be organized in higher order repeating units. Homologous sequences were also found in other rodent species including rat and Chinese hamster. Cross hybridization between a cloned 1.3 kb mouse fragment and a cloned CHO repeated sequence is of special interest since the latter has been shown to contain sequences homologous to the Human A1uI family by nucleotide sequencing.