CHARACTERIZATION OF MINISATELLITES IN ARABIDOPSIS-THALIANA WITH SEQUENCE SIMILARITY TO THE HUMAN MINISATELLITE CORE SEQUENCE

A strategy based on random PCR amplification was used to isolate new r epetitive elements of Arabidopsis thaliana. One of the random PCR prod uct analyzed by this approach contained a tandem repetitive minisatell ite sequence composed of 33 bp repeated units. The genomic locus corre sponding to this PCR product was isolated by screening a lambda genomi c library. New related loci were also isolated from the genomic librar y by screening with a 14 mer oligonucleotide representing a region con served among the different repeated units. Alignment of the consensus sequence for each minisatellite locus allowed the definition of an Ara bidopsis thaliana core sequence that shows strong sequence similaritie s with the human core sequence and with the generalized recombination signal Chi of Escherichia coli. The minisatellites were tested for the ir ability to detect polymorphism, and their chromosomal position was established.