Telomeres and Heterochromatin in Drosophila

HeT DNA是黑腹果蝇基因组中复杂重复序列的一个家族。序列完全局限于端粒和中心外异染色质。HeT DNA家族的一个子集由HeT- a元素组成，这是一组新的反转录因子样元素，它们被发现添加到四个“愈合”的端粒末端，这些端粒已经在果蝇身上进行了研究，或者它们可能能够组织端粒序列。我们建议通过尝试使用这些序列构建功能性果蝇迷你染色体来测试HeT DNA序列的假定功能。这些迷你染色体将被转化为培养的果蝇细胞，并检测它们作为线性染色体维持和复制的能力。这样的染色体将允许直接测试我们关于HeT DNA序列功能的结论。如果我们成功地构建了小染色体，它们将为果蝇的其他研究提供一个有用的工具

HeT DNA is a family of complex repeated sequences in the genome of Drosophila melanogaster. The sequences are entirely confined to the telomeres and the pericentric heterochromatin. One subset of the HeT DNA family consists of the HeT-A elements a novel set of retroposon-like elements that have bee found added onto the ends of the four "healed" telomeres that have been studied in Drosophila or they may be able to organize telomere sequences. We propose to test the putative function of HeT DNA sequences by attempting to construct functional Drosophila mini-chromosomes using these sequences. The mini-chromosomes will be transformed into cultured Drosophila cells and assayed for their ability to be maintained and replicated as linear chromosomes. Such chromosomes would allow a direct test of our conclusions about functions of HeT DNA sequences. If we are successful in constructing mini- chromosomes, they will be a useful tool for other studies on Drosophila.***//