The Drosophila melanogaster dodecasatellite sequence is closely linked to the centromere and can form connections between sister chromatids during mitosis

Abstract

We have used fluorescence in situ hybridisation to wild-type and rearranged mitotic chromosomes to map the Drosophila melanogaster dodecasatellite sequence. It is located at a unique site, within the pericentric heterochromatin of the right arm of the third chromosome, closely linked to the primary constriction. In polytene chromosomes, dodecasatellite is found as one or a few dots in the central region of the chromocentre. In untreated diploid cells, dodecasatellite sequences are found as one or two dots throughout the cell cycle. This distribution can be altered in a cell cycle-dependent manner in two ways. Firstly, in interphase cells, hypotonic shock promotes the decondensation of the genomic region containing this satellite, resulting in a string-like structure. Secondly, some of the precociously separated sister chromatids produced by colchicine treatment show dodecasatellite within the intervening space connecting the main dodecasatellite signals of each chromatid. The distribution of dodecasatellite seems to be rather constant between individuals of the same species, as indicated by the lack of any detectable variations in its pattern amongst individuals from six geographically distant strains of D. melanogaster. On the other hand, the distribution of dodecasatellite shows a remarkable degree of variation amongst closely related species of the melanogaster subgroup ranging from a non-detectable signal in Drosophila yakuba and Drosophila teissieri, to staining in the X, second and third chromososomes of Drosophila mauritiana.