Pericentromeric regions containing 1.688 satellite DNA sequences show anti-kinetochore antibody staining in prometaphase chromosomes of Drosophila melanogaster

A striking characteristic of the centromeric heterochromatin of Drosophila melanogaster is that each chromosome carries different satellite DNA sequen ces. Here we show that while the major component of the 1.688 satellite DNA family expands across the centromere of the X chromosome the rest of the m inor variants are located at pericentromeric positions in the large autosom es. Immunostaining of prometaphase chromosomes with the kinetocore-specific anti-BUB1 antibody reveals the transient presence of this centromeric prot ein in all the regions containing the 1.688 satellite.