THE PVB370 BAMHI SATELLITE DNA FAMILY OF THE DROSOPHILA-VIRILIS GROUPAND ITS EVOLUTIONARY RELATION TO MOBILE DISPERSED GENETIC PDV ELEMENTS

The pvB370 BamHI tandemly repeated satellite DNA family was isolated a nd analyzed in eight species of the Drosophila virilis group and is pr obably common to all its members. Unexpectedly, the satellite DNA fami ly showed similar levels of intra- and inter-specific sequence variabi lity. An EMBL gene-bank search revealed a high degree of similarity be tween the members of the pvB370 BamHI satellite DNA sequence family an d the direct terminal repeats of the mobile dispersed genetic pDv elem ents described in D. virilis and other species of the group, However, no similarity was observed to the transcribed and translated part of t he pDv elements. It is suggested that the satellite DNA repeats are ph ylogenetically older than the mobile dispersed genetic pDv element and that the functional pDv elements might have derived from the satellit e DNA family through an insertion of a tandemly repeated 36-bp transcr iption unit.