engleski

Transcription of pericentromeric heterochromatin in Palorus beetles - satellite DNAs as active regulatory elements

PRAT and PSUB are major, highly abundant satellites in the heterochromatic regions of the beetles Palorus ratzeburgii and Palorus subdepressus, which are also found conserved in a low number of copies in the genomes of distant insect species. Extreme sequence conservation over a long evolutionary period indicates selective constraints and functional significance of these satellites. The comprehensive analysis of active transcription of PRAT and PSUB satellites is presented here, further supporting their functional importance. The results give strong indication that Palorus satellite DNAs are transcribed as autonomous transcription units from their own promoters that reside within satellite sequences. Long satellite DNA transcripts are proposed to play a structural role in the organization of pericentromeric heterochromatin.

centromere ; Coleoptera ; heterochromatin ; non-coding RNA ; satellite DNA ; transcription

nije evidentirano