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Location of Satellite and Homogeneous DNA Sequences on Human Chromosomes

Nature New Biology volume 233, pages 268–271 (1971)Cite this article

An Erratum to this article was published on 05 January 1972

Abstract

HUMAN DNA1,2 contains at least two satellite fractions—satellite I (0.5% of the genome) which bands at a density of 1.687 g/cm3 in neutral CsCl, and satellite II (2% of the genome) which bands at 1.693 g/cm3. The main band DNA has an average buoyant density between 1.670 and 1.720 g/cm3 and a light shoulder (constituting 15% of the genome) with a buoyant density of 1.696 g/cm3, referred to as homogeneous mainband. Satellite DNA has been observed in many higher organisms3, usually with an unknown function, notable exceptions being cistrons coding for ribosomal RNA4 and the DNA coding for histone messenger RNA5. To investigate possible functions of human repetitive DNA we have studied the annealing of complementary RNA fractions to chromosomes using in situ hybridization6,7. We describe here preliminary observations using human satellite II and homogeneous mainband fractions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Epigenetics Research Group, University of Edinburgh and Centro di Patologia Molecolare, University of Milan,

    K. W. JONES & G. CORNEO

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  1. K. W. JONES
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  2. G. CORNEO
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JONES, K., CORNEO, G. Location of Satellite and Homogeneous DNA Sequences on Human Chromosomes. Nature New Biology 233, 268–271 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1038/newbio233268a0

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