Analysis of human extrachromosomal DNA elements originating from different beta-satellite subfamilies

By screening total human DNA with probes derived from the small polydisperse circular (spc) DNA fraction of cultured human cells, we identified three clones that carry long stretches of beta-satellite DNA. Further experiments have shown that the three sequences belong to at least two different beta-satellite subfamilies, which are characterized by different higher order subunits. Members of one of these subfamilies are located in the cytological satellites of all acrocentric chromosomes, whereas members of another are located on the short arms of the acrocentrics on both sides of the stalk regions and also in the centromeric regions of chromosomes 1 and 9. This is the first time that beta-satellite sequences obtained from the spcDNA of human cells have been assigned to beta-satellite subfamilies that are organized as long arrays of tandemly arranged higher order monomers. This indicates that beta-satellite sequences can be excised from their chromosomal loci via intrastrand-recombination processes.