Sequence organization in African trypanosome minicircles is defined by 18 base pair inverted repeats

We have found that minicircles of African trypanosomes contain 18 base pair sequences that occur as 3 or 4 pairs of imperfect inverted repeats. The 18 base pair sequence is polar; one half is almost perfectly conserved, while the other half has a more variable sequence. The distribution of the 18 base pair sequences in minicircles defines two classes of sequences ('A' and 'B' segments) that have distinct characteristics. 'A' segments vary considerably in length and contain about 10% more G+C than 'B' segments which are all about 100 base pairs long. The 18 base pair sequences are absent from minicircles of other kinetoplastids. Thus, 'B' segments along with their terminal 18 base pair sequences superficially resemble insertion sequences. Minicircles of African trypanosomes therefore conserve their organization but have only limited nucleotide sequence homology.