Analysis and location of a rice BAC clone containing telomeric DNA sequences

BAC2, a rice BAC clone containing (TTTAGGG)(n), homologous sequences, was a nalyzed by Southern hybridization and DNA sequencing of its subclones. Ir w as disclosed thar there were many tandem repeated satellite DNA sequences, called TA352, as well as simple tandem repeats consisting of TTTAGGG or its variant within the BAC2 insert. A 0.8 kb (TTTAGGG)(n)-containing fragment in BAC2 was mapped in the telomere regions of at least 5 pairs of rice chro mosomes by using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). By RFLP analysi s of low copy sequences the BAC2 clone was localized in one terminal region of chromosome 6. All the results strongly suggest that the telomeric DNA s equences oi rice are TTTAGGG or its variant, and the linked satellite DNA T A352 sequences belong to telomere-associated sequences.