Benos, P.V., Gatt, M.K., Ashburner, M., Murphy, L., Harris, D., Barrell, B., Ferraz, C., Vidal, S., Brun, C., Demailles, J., Cadieu, E., Dreano, S., Gloux, S., Lelaure, V., Mottier, S., Galibert, F., Borkova, D., Minana, B., Kafatos, F.C., Louis, C., Siden-Kiamos, I., Bolshakov, S., Papagiannakis, G., Spanos, L., Cox, S., Madueno, E., de Pablos, B., Modolell, J., Peter, A., Schottler, P., Werner, M., Mourkioti, F., Beinert, N., Dowe, G., Schafer, U., Jackle, H., Bucheton, A., Callister, D.M., Campbell, L.A., Darlamitsou, A., Henderson, N.S., McMillan, P.J., Salles, C., Tait, E.A., Valenti, P., Saunders, R.D.C., Glover, D.M. (2000). From sequence to chromosome: the tip of the X chromosome of D. melanogaster.  Science 287(5461): 2220--2222.

FBrf0127005

Review

One of the rewards of having a Drosophila melanogaster whole-genome sequence will be the potential to understand the molecular bases for structural features of chromosomes that have been a long-standing puzzle. Analysis of 2.6 megabases of sequence from the tip of the X chromosome of Drosophila identifies 273 genes. Cloned DNAs from the characteristic bulbous structure at the tip of the X chromosome in the region of the broad complex display an unusual pattern of in situ hybridization. Sequence analysis revealed that this region comprises 154 kilobases of DNA flanked by 1.2-kilobases of inverted repeats, each composed of a 350-base pair satellite related element. Thus, some aspects of chromosome structure appear to be revealed directly within the DNA sequence itself.