A highly repetitive DNA sequence family from the genome of Sparus aura
ta has been cloned and characterized. The family is composed of repeat
units of 186 bp in length, and it accounts for 2% of the fish genome.
Data from Southern blots and in situ hybridization demonstrate that r
epeating units are tandemly arranged at the centromeres of all the chr
omosomes in this species. The repetitive sequence is AT rich (67%) and
is characterized by short stretches of consecutive AT base pairs and
by short direct and inverted repeats. Sequence analysis of six cloned
monomers of the family reveals some variation among clones at random p
ositions and also distinguishes two subfamilies of repeats that differ
in a highly divergent block of 31 bp. These two subfamilies do not se
em to be located in separate domains but occur together in the centrom
ere of each chromosome pair. The presence of this repeat family in the
genome of other Sparidae species, some of which are relatively distan
t from S. aurata, indicates that this repetitive sequence could be an
important component of the centromere in this fish family.