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Science 24 March 2000:
Vol. 287. no. 5461, pp. 2220 - 2222
DOI: 10.1126/science.287.5461.2220
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From Sequence to Chromosome: The Tip of the X Chromosome of D. melanogaster

Panayiotis V. Benos, 1 Melanie K. Gatt, 211 Michael Ashburner, 12 Lee Murphy, 3 David Harris, 3 Bart Barrell, 3 Concepcion Ferraz, 4 Sophie Vidal, 4 Christine Brun, 4 Jacques Demailles, 4 Edouard Cadieu, 5 Stephane Dreano, 5 Stéphanie Gloux, 5 Valerie Lelaure, 5 Stephanie Mottier, 5 Francis Galibert, 5 Dana Borkova, 6 Belen Minana, 6 Fotis C. Kafatos, 6 Christos Louis, 78 Inga Sidén-Kiamos, 7 Slava Bolshakov, 67 George Papagiannakis, 7 Lefteris Spanos, 7 Sarah Cox, 7 Encarnación Madueño, 9 Beatriz de Pablos, 9 Juan Modolell, 9 Annette Peter, 10 Petra Schöttler, 10 Meike Werner, 10 Foteini Mourkioti, 10 Nicole Beinert, 10 Gordon Dowe, 10 Ulrich Schäfer, 10 Herbert Jäckle, 10 Alain Bucheton, 4 Deborah M. Callister, 11 Lorna A. Campbell, 11 Areti Darlamitsou, 11 Nadine S. Henderson, 11 Paul J. McMillan, 11 Cathy Salles, 11 Evelyn A. Tait, 11 Phillipe Valenti, 11 Robert D. C. Saunders, 1112 David M. Glover 211

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.

1 The European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton Hall, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK.
2 Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EH, UK.
3 Sanger Centre, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK.
4 Montpellier University Medical School, Institut de Génétique Humaine (IGH), CNRS, 114 Rue de la Cardonille, 34396 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
5 Unité Propre de Recherche 41, CNRS, Recombinaisons Genetiques, Faculte de Medecine, 2 Avenue du Pr Leon Bernard, 35043 Rennes Cedex, France.
6 European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany.
7 Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas, Heraklion, Greece.
8 Department of Biology, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece.
9 Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientifícas and Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain.
10 Max-Planck-Institut für Biophysikalische Chemie, Department of Molecular Developmental Biology, D-37070 Göttingen, Germany.
11 Department of Anatomy and Physiology, Cancer Research Campaign Cell Cycle Genetics Group, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 4HN, UK.
12 Department of Biological Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK.

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