Alterations in minisatellite DNA repeat tracts in humans have been correlated with a number of serious disorders, including cancer. Despite their importance for human health, the genetic factors that influence minisatellite stability are not well understood. Previously, we identified mutations in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae zinc homeostasis genes ZRT1 and ZAP1 that significantly increase the f...

Minisatellite isoallelism, i.e. the occurrence of minisatellite alleles with different internal sequence composition but indistinguishable length, is a common limitation of minisatellite allele length analysis. Internal sequence variation can be used to distinguish such isoalleles, provided that detailed sequence knowledge of its basis is available. We now show that minisatellite isoalleles can...

We describe the presence of a minisatellite sequence that displays length polymorphisms in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. The minisatellite sequence was found to reside within the propeptide region of the vacuolar carboxypeptidase Y gene. The minisatellite sequence, which was found only at a single locus, was mitotically stable and displayed length polymorphisms between the two va...

Repetitive minisatellite DNA tracts are stable in mitotic cells but unstable in meiosis, altering in repeat number and repeat composition. As relatively little is known about the factors that influence minisatellite stability, we isolated mutations that destabilize a minisatellite repeat tract in the ADE2 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. One mutant class exhibited a novel color segregation phe...

Repetitive elements comprise a significant portion of most eukaryotic genomes. Minisatellites, a type of repetitive element composed of repeat units 15-100 bp in length, are stable in actively dividing cells but change in composition during meiosis and in stationary-phase cells. Alterations within minisatellite tracts have been correlated with the onset of a variety of diseases, including diabe...

Germ-line mutation induction at mouse minisatellite loci by acute irradiation with x-rays was studied at premeiotic and postmeiotic stages of spermatogenesis. An elevated paternal mutation rate was found after irradiation of premeiotic spermatogonia and stem cells, whereas the frequency of minisatellite mutation after postmeiotic irradiation of spermatids was similar to that in control litters....

Minisatellites, one of the major classes of repetitive DNA sequences in eukaryotic genomes, are stable in somatic cells but destabilize during meiosis. We previously established a yeast model system by inserting the human Ha-ras/HRAS1 minisatellite into the HIS4 promoter and demonstrated that our system recapitulates all of the phenotypes associated with the human minisatellite. Here we demonst...

Okadaic acid (OA) is an inhibitor of serine/threonine protein phosphatase (PP) and a tumor promoter in mouse skin carcinogenesis. According to Carcinogenesis Division, National Cancer Center Research Institute, OA induces various genetic alterations, such as loss of exogenous genes, sister chromatid exchanges and diphtheria toxin resistant mutants, although there is no evidence showing that it ...

Tests of 29 human variable number of tandem repeat probes in inbred mouse lines showed that 80% (23/29) cross-hybridize, and 48% (14/29) produce multiple band, minisatellite polymorphisms (fingerprint patterns). Mini-satellite-type polymorphisms detected by 11 probes were characterized in eight different strains; on average, 240 polymorphic differences were detected between pairs of strains. Re...

Little is known about the role of meiotic recombination processes such as unequal crossover in driving instability at tandem repeat DNA. Methods have therefore been developed to detect meiotic crossovers within two different GC-rich minisatellite repeat arrays in humans, both in families and in sperm DNA. Both loci normally mutate in the germline by complex conversion-like transfer of repeats b...