Comparative DNA analysis of three South American marsupials.

Published information on marsupials DNA is limited to a group of species belonging to only one genus. No previous reports have been written on South American species. In this paper we characterize the DNA of three out of the four marsupials found in Uruguay. Analytical and preparative ultracentrifugations in neutral CsCl gradients, including four intercalating agents and in Cs2SO4 gradients in presence of increasing amounts of Hg++ ion did not allow us to separate any satellite fraction. The buoyant density of the unique peak measured in CsCl gradients was in every case 1.697 g/cc with a G-C content of 37.7%. Digestion of total DNA with 11 restriction endonucleases produced a different pattern of bands for the three species, although some possible homologies could be established. Hybridization with 32P-rRNA of Southern blots of the gels containing digested DNAs demonstrated that the repeated sequences evidenced do not correspond to the ribosomal cistrons.