1983/01/01 by D.M. Skiner, Veta Bonnewell, Richard F. Fowler · 2 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Chromosomal and Genetic Variations #Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies #Advanced biosensing and bioanalysis techniques #Satellite DNA #Satellite #Sequence (biology) #DNA #Biology #Transcription (linguistics) #Computational biology #Repeated sequence #Genetics #Evolutionary biology #Gene #Genome #Physics #Philosophy
paper · doi:10.1101/sqb.1983.047.01.130
openalex publication_date 1983/01/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/14
Satellite DNAs were originally described as simple-sequence DNAs, associated with heterochromatin, and lacking sufficient information content to be likely candidates for transcription. As more satellites have been identified and studied in detail, these and many other early generalizations about satellites have proven to be too simplistic (Skinner 1977; Singer 1982). Satellites can in fact be quite complex; the most complex known to date is a G + C-rich DNA of the Bermuda land crab, Gecarcinus lateralis. Its basic repeat unit is about 2.07 kb with a number of micro- and macrovariations (LaMarca et al. 1981). Its sequence differs from those of the ρ = 1.706 g/cm3 calf satellite (Pech et al. 1979) and two segments of the ρ = 1.711a g/cm3 (Streeck 1981) calf satellite, whose long repeat units contain a patchwork of related, although occasionally scrambled, short sequences. The interesting and unusual features of the crab satellite are summarized...