The Human Telomere

Abstract

An ultimate goal of human genetics is the generation of a complete physical and ''functional'' map of the human genome. Twenty-five percent of human DNA, however, consists of repetitive DNA sequences. These repetitive DNA sequences are thought to arise by many mechanisms, from direct sequence amplification by the unequal recombination of homologous DNA regions to the reverse flow of genetic information. A general outline of the chromosomal organization of these repetitive sequences will be discussed. Our working hypothesis is that certain classes of human repetitive DNA sequences ''encode'' the information necessary for defining long-range genomic structure. Evidence will be presented that the first goal of this research, the identification and cloning of the human telomere, has been achieved. A human repetitive DNA library was constructed from randomly sheared, reassociated, and oligo(G/center dot/C)-tailed DNA, a method that minimizes the potential loss of sequences devoid of a given restriction enzyme site. Sequences too large to clone efficiently in cosmid or /lambda/ vectors, such as centromeric repeats, or telomeric sequences with an end incompatible for cloning, should be present in this library. In order to isolate highly conserved repetitive DNA sequences, this library was screened with radiolabeled hamster Cot50 repetitive DNA. Two clones, more » containing tandem arrays of the sequence (TTAGGG), were isolated by this method. 30 refs., 1 fig., 2 tabs. « less