Cloning and characterization of a repetitive 1.9 Kb HindIII DNA fragment from Crotalus durissus terrificus genome

ABSTRACT

Eukaryote genomes are endowed with varying quantities of repeated DNA families. These families show different patterns of conservation among species, copy numbers, chromosomal distribution, and transcription. Characterization of repeated DNA sequences could help to understand the genome anatomy and organization or be used in molecular systematics and molecular evolution studies. We describe here a repetitive DNA sequence of the HindIII family present in the genome of the rattlesnake Crotalus durissus terrificus. In Brazil, the family Crotalus is comprised only by one species durissus, which include several subspecies. The number and distribution of these subspecies are controversial. In the present study, the genomic DNA of a female rattlesnake was digested with HindIII resulting in a strong 1.9 Kb band. A partial genomic library was constructed from the 1.9 Kb DNAs rescued from the agarose gel after HindIII digestion and ligated to the vector pGEM3Zf(+) (Promega). Analysis of 69 clones, 44 hybridized with the 1.9 Kb probe isolated from one of the clones-clone 76, indicating that the DNA isolated from this clone should represent the 1.9 Kb HindIII fragment. This 1.9 Kb HindIII DNA was completely characterized by sequencing.