Molecular characterization of the complex sex-chromosome heterochromatin in the rodent Microtus chrotorrhinus.

The sex chromosomes of Microtus chrotorrhinus are unusually large compared to those of other mammals, comprising about 20% of the karyotype and containing substantial amounts of constitutive heterochromatin. Previous studies have described two highly repeated DNA families (MSAT-160 and MSAT-2570) that localize to this heterochromatin (Modi, 1992, 1993c). The present report describes a third satellite DNA family (termed MSAT-21) in M. chrotorrhinus that is also located in the sex heterochromatin. This repeat consists of diverged copies (average similarity = 75%) of a tandemly repeated 21-mer. Southern blotting of MSAT-21 revealed that although some higher order (5-20 kb) repeats do exist, none has spread throughout an appreciable portion of the genome. Pulsed field gel experiments indicated that most of the larger arrays (50-700 kb) of all three satellite families are distributed across numerous size classes, suggesting that the three repeats are interspersed with one another in this heterochromatin. Analysis of a boundary between MSAT-21 and MSAT-160 showed that the junction monomers of each satellite are intact and that a pentanucleotide has apparently been transferred from MSAT-21 to MSAT-160 via recombination. Sequence comparisons of MSAT-160 with another rodent satellite and with the U3 region of the Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) long terminal repeat identified inverted repeats and similarities with viral enhancer domains in the rodent sequences. Additionally, the MSAT-21 consensus was found to be similar to the R region of RSV, suggesting a retroviral ancestor for these rodent repeated DNA families.