THE BETA-TUBULIN GENES OF DROSOPHILA-AURARIA ARE ARRANGED IN A CLUSTER

When the beta 1-, beta 2- and beta 3-tubulin-specific DNAs from Drosop hila melanogaster were used as probes to recognize tubulin-specific se quences in the chromosomes of Drosophila auraria, they were found to h ybridize to the same polytene band in region 32C of the 2L polytene ch romosome. Three overlapping clones were isolated from a lambda EMBL3 g enomic library of D. auraria, and they all contain beta-tubulin-specif ic sequences based on hybridization and partial-sequencing experiments of subcloned fragments. These clones hybridize in situ to the same po lytene chromosome band in region 32C and they represent an approximate ly 35-kb fragment of genomic DNA.