De novo chromosome formations by large-scale amplification of the centromeric region of mouse chromosomes

Chromosomes formed de novo which originated from the centromeric region of mouse chromosome 7, have been analysed. These new chromosomes were formed by apparently similar large-scale amplification processes, and are organized into amplicons of approximately 30 Mb. Centromeric satellite DNA was found to be the constant component of all amplicons. Satellite DNA sequences either bordered the large euchromatic amplicons (E-type amplification), or made up the bulk of the constitutive heterochromatic amplicons (H-type amplification). Detailed analysis of a heterochromatic megachromosome formed de novo by an H-type amplification revealed that it is composed of a tandem array of 10-12 large (approximately 30 Mb) amplicons each marked with integrated "foreign' DNA sequences at both ends. Each amplicon is a giant palindrome, consisting of two inverted doublets of approximately 7.5-Mb blocks of satellite DNA. Our results indicate that the building units of the pericentric heterochromatin of mouse chromosomes are approximately 7.5-Mb blocks of satellite DNA flanked by non-satellite sequences. We suggest that the formation de novo of various chromosome segments and chromosomes seen in different cell lines may be the result of large-scale E- and H-type amplification initiated in the pericentric region of chromosomes.