Isolation, characterization and sequencing of a novel repetitive DNA from the mung bean Vigna radiata

A family of highly reiterated, small (approx. 300 bp) sequences has been identified in DNA of the mung bean Vigna radiata. The members are extensively interspersed throughout the chromosomes with some clustering. They also occur extrachromosomally. There is no tissue-specificity to the repeat family but it is highly species-specific. The repetitive DNA hybridizes to total RNA as well as to polyadenylated RNA isolated from germinated mung beans. It has analogy with the human AluI family in the mode of isolation, size, genomic distribution, copy number and transcribability though they do not share any sequence homology. A repetitive DNA clone was selected from a shotgun genomic library of mung bean DNA in pBR322. The average copy number of the cloned repeat is estimated to be 8 x 10(4) per haploid genome, and thus constitutes approx. 5% of the total mung bean genome. The genomic organization and transcription of the cloned repeat is reported. Sequencing of the cloned repetitive DNA reveals the presence of the number of direct and inverted repeats and some short palindromic sequences.