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Trypanosoma cruzi rRNA genes: a repeated element from the non-transcribed spacer is locus specific
M Pulido1, S Martínez-Calvillo, R Hernández
1Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México D.F., México.
Abstract:
To determine the occurrence of conserved domains of presumed functional selection, a genomic restriction analysis was carried out in the region surrounding a transcription start point (tsp) from the rRNA cistron in T. cruzi. The transcribed spacer was found highly conserved among several isolates, whereas at 146 bp upstream from the tsp a highly polymorphic pattern was evidenced with a probe that contains sequences of a repetitive element (172 bp). Both genomic and chromosomal hybridizations indicated the linkage of the repetitive element to coding regions of the rRNA cistron. This represents the first example of a repetitive element not interspersed throughout the genome of T. cruzi, and strongly suggests that a functional role is being selected.
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