Characterization of two abundant satellite DNAs from the mealworm Tenebrio obscurus

Two highly abundant satellite DNAs comprise 36% of the Tenebrio obscurus (Tenebrionidae, Coleoptera) genome. They are designated as satellite I and satellite II with the monomer length of 344 and 142 base pairs (bp), respectively. Both satellites differ in their nucleotide (nt) sequences, but the frequency of point mutations, well-conserved length of monomer variants, stretches of shared mutations characteristic for the process of gene conversion, and distribution of both satellites in regions of centromeric heterochromatin of all chromosomes indicate that the same evolutionary processes act on both of them with the same, or similar, rate. While satellite I shares no sequence similarity with any other known nt sequence, satellite II is 79.7% homologous with the highly abundant satellite from closely related Tenebrio molitor. Difference in the frequency of point mutations and absence of shared mutations indicating gene conversion strongly suggest that in these two closely related species mutational processes affecting satellite DNAs seem to be changed. Retarded electrophoretic mobility, due to sequence-induced curvature of DNA helix axis, was observed for T. obscurus satellite II, but not for satellite I. Although evolutionary processes act with different rates in T. obscurus and T. molitor satellites the monomer length and sequence-induced curvature are well preserved in both 142-bp satellites, as well as in, at the nt sequence level completely divergent, Palorus ratzeburgii (Tenebrionidae) satellite, indicating potential importance of these parameters in their evolution.