Satellite DNA from the Chinese Fat Newt, Pachytriton brevipes, and Related Species

Wu Zhengan

Scientific report of the Laboratory for Amphibian Biology

The highly repetitive sequences of genomic DNA from the Chinese fat newt, Pachytriton brevipes, were examined by the methods of restriction endonuclease digestion, electrophoretic separation and molecular hybridization. Two satellite DNAs cut with BglII and BamHI were isolated from the genomic DNA of the fat newt. Their monomers were about 330bp and 400bp, respectively. These two monomers were named as PBr(BglII)-1 and PBr(BamHI)-1,respectively. Southern blot-hybridization of partially digested DNA of this species with ^<32>P-labeled monomer fragments of PBr(BglII)-1 or PBr(BamHI)-1 showed a typical ladder of bands corresponding to multiples of the 330bp or 400bp bands. Hybridization experiments indicated that these two satellites belong to two different satellite families. Both monomers were cloned into the BamHI site of pBR322,and the recombinants were named as pPbrS1-5 and pPbrS2-9. Hybridization experiments indicated that the 330bp BglII satellite is conserved in Cynops orientalis from China, C. pyrrhogaster pyrrhogaster from Japan, Triturus alpestris apuanus, T. cristatus carnifex and T. vulgaris meridionalis from Europe, and Notophthalmus viridescens and Taricha granulosa from North America in an approximately equal amount, while the 400bp BamHI satellite is conserved in varying contents in the foregoing newt species except T. vulgaris meridionalis. The conservation of five cloned satellites, Nv1,Nv2,TcS2,TcS1 and Tvm1,obtained from the DNAs of American and European newts was examined and their relationships with the DNAs of Japanese and Chinese newts were discussed.

Zoology [ 480 ]

eng

Institute for Amphibian Biology, Hiroshima University

[Created] 2006-03-21

[ISSN] 0386-3166

[NCID] AA00837669