LONG-RANGE ANALYSES OF THE CENTROMERIC REGIONS OF HUMAN CHROMOSOME-13, CHROMOSOME-14 AND CHROMOSOME-21 - IDENTIFICATION OF A NARROW DOMAIN-CONTAINING 2 KEY CENTROMERIC DNA ELEMENTS

Alpha-satellite, satellite 3 and satellite 1 DNA have been proposed as candidate components of a functional human centromere. Multiple subfa milies of these three DNA have recently been identified at the pericen tric regions of the human acrocentric chromosomes. Using pulsed field gel electrophoresis, we have constructed long-range maps of the variou s centromeric markers for chromosomes 13, 14 and 21. These maps cover approximately 2.3 megabases of sequence for each chromosome, and the r esults demonstrate that within this centromeric region, chromosomes 13 and 21 have a similar organization that is partially shared by chromo some 14. A discrete satellite 3 domain was identified on each chromoso me within the boundaries of the alpha-satellite DNA. No satellite 1 wa s detected within the defined centromeric regions suggesting that sate llite 1 is not essential for centromere function.