The pvB370 BamHI satellite DNA family of the Drosophila virilis group and its evolutionary relation to mobile dispersed genetic pDv elements.

The pvB370 BamHI tandemly repeated satellite DNA family was isolated and analyzed in eight species of the Drosophila virilis group and is probably common to all its members. Unexpectedly, the satellite DNA family showed similar levels of intra- and interspecific sequence variability. An EMBL gene-bank search revealed a high degree of similarity between the members of the pvB370 BamHI satellite DNA sequence family and the direct terminal repeats of the mobile dispersed genetic pDv elements described in D. virilis and other species of the group. However, no similarity was observed to the transcribed and translated part of the pDv elements. It is suggested that the satellite DNA repeats are phylogenetically older than the mobile dispersed genetic pDv element and that the functional pDv elements might have derived from the satellite DNA family through an insertion of a tandemly repeated 36-bp transcription unit.