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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1989 Mar;86(6):1944–1948. doi: 10.1073/pnas.86.6.1944

Ribosomal DNA and Stellate gene copy number variation on the Y chromosome of Drosophila melanogaster.

E M Lyckegaard 1, A G Clark 1
PMCID: PMC286821  PMID: 2494656

Abstract

Multigene families on the Y chromosome face an unusual array of evolutionary forces. Both ribosomal DNA and Stellate, the two families examined here, have multiple copies of similar sequences on the X and Y chromosomes. Although the rate of sequence divergence on the Y chromosome depends on rates of mutation, gene conversion and exchange with the X chromosome, as well as purifying selection, the regulation of gene copy number may also depend on other pleiotropic functions, such as maintenance of chromosome pairing. Gene copy numbers were estimated for a series of 34 Y chromosome replacement lines using densitometric measurements of slot blots of genomic DNA from adult Drosophila melanogaster. Scans of autoradiographs of the same blots probed with the cloned alcohol dehydrogenase gene, a single copy gene, served as internal standards. Copy numbers span a 6-fold range for ribosomal DNA and a 3-fold range for Stellate DNA. Despite this magnitude of variation, there was no association between copy number and segregation variation of the sex chromosomes.

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Selected References

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