Two minisatellite loci from a Eurasian songbird, the willow warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus) were isolated, sequenced and used as probes to detect more than 20 related hypervariable loci. In addition, a sequence flanking one of the minisatellite loci was isolated, and used to study a VNTR locus. The bird minisatellites have a repeat unit of either 12 (AGGGAAGGGCTC) or 17 bp (GGGGACAGGGGACACCC),...

We have examined whether mutation rates at minisatellite DNA loci in dandelions (Taraxacum officinale Weber, sensu lato: Asteraceae) increase with increasing exposure to metal pollution. From 16 sites (Colorado to Pennsylvania, USA) covering a range of airborne particulate-matter exposures, soil metal concentrations, and leaf-tissue metal concentrations, we grew an average of 7.9 offspring from...

A minisatellite-binding protein, Msbp-4, with a molecular mass of 35 kDa has been purified from mouse tumor cells that binds to hypervariable Pc-1 and Pc-2 minisatellites. The binding is much more efficient than that to genetically stable minisatellite homologues. As assayed by Southwestern analysis, Msbp-4 favors multiple copies of the Pc-2 repeat sequence GGCAGGA and requires the cytosine-ric...

The insulin minisatellite or variable number of tandem repeats locus (INS VNTR) is the best candidate for the type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) susceptibility locus IDDM2. Small class I alleles associate with predisposition to T1DM, whereas large class III alleles associate with dominant protection. We have analysed variant repeat distribution within the minisatellite and combined this with flank...

Hypervariable minisatellite DNA sequences are short, tandemly repeated sequences present at numerous loci in eukaryotes. They stimulate intermolecular homologous recombination up to 13-fold in human cells in culture and may be specific sites for the initiation of recombination in the eukaryotic genome (Wahls, W.P., Wallace, L.J., & Moore, P.D. (1990) Cell 60, 95-103). Reported here is the detec...

In addition to the well-known edit operations, the alignment of minisatellite maps includes duplication events. We model these duplications using a special kind of spanning trees and deduce an optimal duplication scenario by computing the respective minimum spanning tree. Based on best duplication scenarios for all substrings of the given sequences, we compute an optimal alignment of two minisa...

We describe the detection of a ubiquitous DNA-binding protein which appears to interact specifically with tandem-repeated minisatellites. The murine 40 kd protein, which we term Msbp-1, was found to be present in all mouse tissues tested. This protein was bound specifically and with high affinity by double-stranded DNA containing a repeat sequence related to the minisatellite 'core' sequence, a...

Aberrant expression of BORIS/CTCFL (Brother of the Regulator of Imprinted Sites/CTCF-like protein) is reported in different malignancies. In this study, we characterized the entire promoter region of BORIS/CTCFL, including the CpG islands, to assess the relationship between BORIS expression and lung cancer. To simplify the construction of luciferase reporter cassettes with various-sized portion...