A satellite DNA containing CENP-B box-like motifs is present in the Antarctic scallop Adamussium colbecki

The DNA of the Antarctic scallop Adamussium colbecki was found to contain a highly repeated sequence identifiable upon restriction with endonuclease B glII. The monomeric unit - denominated pACS (about 170 bp long) - was clone d. Southern blot hybridization yielded a ladder-like banding pattern, indic ating that the repeated elements are tandemly arranged in the genome and th erefore represent a sequence of satellite DNA. Sequence analysis of five different clones revealed the presence of various subfamilies, some of which showed a high degree of divergence. In each clo ne, regions homologous to the mammalian CENP-B box were observed. A region homologous to the CDEIII centromeric sequence of yeast was also found in on e of the clones. These observations suggest a relationship of the pACS fami ly to the centromeric area in A. colbecki (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. Al l rights reserved.