A CLADE OF NEW-WORLD PRIMATES WITH DISTINCTIVE ALPHOID SATELLITE DNAS

Centromerically located alphoid satellite DNAs are present in all prim ates. They typically consist of arrays of a 340-bp monomeric unit that is composed of related, but diverged, 170-bp subunits. A unique monom eric unit has recently been described: the alphoid satellite monomers of the neotropical primate Chiropotes satanas (bearded saki) are typic ally 539 bp in length. In addition, a number of smaller satellite sequ ences are present in this species. Analysis of two primates closely re lated to Chiropotes, Pithecia irrorata (saki) and Cacajao melanocephal us (uakari), show that they also contain unique alphoid satellites tha t are different from those of Chiropotes and different from one anothe r. Southern blot and sequence analyses suggest that an alphoid satelli te rearrangement(s) occurred early in the history of the tribe Pitheci ini (Chiropotes, Pithecia, Cacajao) and that rearrangements are contin uing to occur in this group of primates. (C) 1998 Academic Press.