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A Physical Map of the Polytenized Region (101EF102F) of Chromosome 4 in Drosophila melanogaster
John Lockea, Lynn Podemskia, Nicole Aippersbacha, Hilary Kempa, and Ross Hodgettsaa Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E9, Canada
Corresponding author: John Locke, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E9, Canada., john.locke{at}ualberta.ca (E-mail)
Communicating editor: R. S. HAWLEY
| ABSTRACT |
|---|
Chromosome 4, the smallest autosome (~5 Mb in length) in Drosophila melanogaster contains two major regions. The centromeric domain (~4 Mb) is heterochromatic and consists primarily of short, satellite repeats. The remaining ~1.2 Mb, which constitutes the banded region (101E102F) on salivary gland polytene chromosomes and contains the identified genes, is the region mapped in this study. Chromosome walking was hindered by the abundance of moderately repeated sequences dispersed along the chromosome, so we used many entry points to recover overlapping cosmid and BAC clones. In situ hybridization of probes from the two ends of the map to polytene chromosomes confirmed that the cloned region had spanned the 101E102F interval. Our BAC clones comprised three contigs; one gap was positioned distally in 102EF and the other was located proximally at 102B. Twenty-three genes, representing about half of our revised estimate of the total number of genes on chromosome 4, were positioned on the BAC contigs. A minimal tiling set of the clones we have mapped will facilitate both the assembly of the DNA sequence of the chromosome and a functional analysis of its genes.
THE fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has two sex chromosomes and three autosomes. The smallest chromosome, 4, is ~5 Mb length (![]()
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In addition to its small size, chromosome 4 is atypical in several other respects, all of which relate to the long-standing presumption that this chromosome is, in some ways, heterochromatic in nature. First, the banded region of chromosome 4 often shows a diffuse and poorly defined appearance that is similar to regions of heterochromatin. A second similarity to heterochromatin was revealed when it was shown that the chromosomal protein HP1, thought to be an important constituent of heterochromatin, bound to several sites along the chromosome (![]()
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The small size of chromosome 4 makes cytogenetic localization of its genes difficult, while the lack of crossing over precludes the construction of a typical genetic map. Consequently, many of the genes on 4 are uncharacterized at present. ![]()
Using known, unique chromosome 4 sequences as probes, we isolated cosmid clones and initiated several chromosome walks with the goal of forming one cosmid contig spanning the gene-containing region defined cytologically as 101EF102F. Despite screening one existing cosmid library and building three others, our cosmid map contained several gaps. However, by screening three new bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) libraries, all but two of these gaps were filled. We now have clones that cover 1.1 Mb of chromosome 4. The physical map and its construction are presented here.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
|---|
Maintenance of stocks:
Drosophila were grown at room temperature on a standard yeast-sucrose medium described in ![]()
D. melanogaster cosmid libraries:
Drosophila genomic DNA was prepared as described in ![]()
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D. melanogaster BAC libraries:
Three BAC genomic libraries were screened during the course of this work. The RPCI-98 BAC library (EcoRI partial digest) was constructed by Aaron Mammoser and Kazutoyo Osoegawa at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, in collaboration with the Drosophila Genome Project at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The DrosBACN library (NdeII partial digest) and the DrosBACH library (HindIII partial digest) were both constructed by Alain Billaud at the Centre d'Etude du Polymorphisme Humaine (CEPH) and were distributed by the UK Human Genome Mapping Project (HGMP) Resource Centre. The BAC libraries were obtained as high-density gridded filters.
Escherichia coli host strains:
The Sau3AI library was plated in E. coli host strain DH5
(GIBCO BRL Life Technologies, Gaithersburg, MD). The KpnI and HindIII cosmid and the fosmid library were plated in E. coli host strain DH10B (GIBCO BRL Life Technologies). The Sau3AI and KpnI cosmid libraries were plated additionally in E. coli host strain PMC107 (![]()
Radiolabeling of probes:
DNA probes (cDNAs or genomic fragments) were labeled by random priming with [
-32P]dCTP as described by ![]()
-32P]UTP were made using T7 and T3 RNA polymerases following the manufacturer's recommendations (Boehringer Mannheim, Indianapolis). Transcripts likewise were shown to be unique before being used to screen the library filters.
Screening of library filters:
DNA-DNA hybridization reactions were performed in 50 mM Na3PO4 (pH 7.2), 6x SSC, 1% SDS at 65°. RNA-DNA hybridization reactions were performed in 50% formamide, 6x SSC, 1% SDS at 42°. High stringency washes consisted of a 30-min wash in 2x SSC, 0.1% SDS at 65°, a 30-min wash in 0.2x SSC, 0.1% SDS at 65°, and a 30-min wash in 0.1x SSC, 0.1% SDS at 65°.
Assembly of clones into contigs:
Clones that were deemed positive for a particular probe were propagated in E. coli. Cosmid DNA was extracted by alkaline lysis. BAC clone DNA was isolated with a modified alkaline lysis protocol from the UK HGMP Resource Centre using ProCipitate reagent (Ligochem, Inc.). The clones were then assembled into contigs using a combination of cross-screening (![]()
In situ hybridization to salivary chromosomes:
Polytene chromosome squashes were prepared from larval salivary glands using the translocation T(1:4)wm5 (![]()
| RESULTS |
|---|
Construction of cosmid contigs:
Cosmid libraries were initially screened with unique probes mapped to chromosome 4: cubitus interruptus (ci), zfh-2, and eyeless (ey). Clones, recovered using these initial probes, furnished fragments that were used to identify adjacent cosmid clones in the libraries. As additional unique chromosome 4 probes were obtained, each was used to initiate a new chromosome walk or was mapped to clones in an existing contig. Chromosome walks were extended as long as unique terminal fragments could be identified or until a gap was reached. Using this methodology, we were able to obtain clones that covered about 800 kb of the estimated 1200 kb of the cytological region 101EF102F (Fig 1). They comprised six contigs of which five were three cosmids or less in length. The sixth, which was estimated to be ~400 kb long, covered the region 102B to 102D as determined by in situ hybridization of the end clones to polytene chromosomes (data not shown). Unique probes from many of the genes shown at the top of Fig 1 were mapped to various cosmid clones, although a number (e.g., 1339, spa and pho) were not represented in the cosmid libraries.
|
Construction of BAC contigs:
When the three BAC clone libraries became available (see MATERIALS AND METHODS), we began by screening them with selected unique probes from the existing cosmid clones. We did this first to confirm the cosmid contigs and second to obtain BACs that spanned the gaps between the cosmid contigs. Using the BAC clones, we were able to coalesce the six cosmid contigs into two BAC contigs (Fig 1). Furthermore, the BAC libraries contained clones that hybridized to calcium-activated protein secretion (CAPS) (![]()
The three BAC contigs (Fig 1) extend over the cytological region 101EF to 102F, the full length of the visible polytene chromosome. We used the terminal BAC clones (BACR5L22 and BACN5O16) that defined the proximal and distal limits of the three contigs as probes to polytene chromosomes to map their cytological location. Clone BACR5L22 hybridizes to the most proximal region on chromosome 4, 101EF, while the clone BACN5O16 hybridizes to the distal-most band at 102F and should include the telomere region (Fig 2A) since BACN5O16 also hybridizes to the telomeres of other chromosomes.
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The distal gap is substantially larger than the proximal gap. When its flanking clones, BACR22J20 and BACH59K20, are used as probes to polytene chromosomes, there is a visible gap that spans several polytene bands (Fig 2B). On the basis of the width of the adjacent BAC clone hybridization signals we estimate this gap to be about one or two BACs in length (about 50200 kb). We have a probe derived from a chromosome 4 P-element insertion, 118-E15 (![]()
The proximal gap, flanked by clones BACN4K08 and BACR1E21, is very small. Using these BACs as probes to polytene chromosomes reveals no visible gap between the two regions of hybridization (Fig 2C). Probes near the ends of both BAC clones identify common-sized restriction fragments on Southern transfers of genomic DNA. From their size we estimate that this gap is less than 1 kb. Although the very ends of both BACs BACN4K08 and BACR1E21 are repetitious, single-copy sequences somewhat removed from the gap in both clones were identified and used to probe the three BAC libraries. However, these probes failed to identify any new BACs that would have closed the gap. The repetitive sequences at the BAC clone ends also precluded us from using PCR methods to span this gap.
Localization of previously identified loci:
During the construction of this physical map, we obtained a set of 23 cloned sequences from genes or anonymous cDNAs that had been mapped to chromosome 4 by various methods. These were positioned on the BAC and cosmid clones and their unambiguous order along the minimal tiling set of clones is shown at the top of Fig 1. Where known, the distal-proximal orientation of genes is shown. The location shown for the highly repetitious clone described as "Dr. D" (![]()
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Distribution of Sau3AI restriction fragments in regions represented by or lacking cosmid clones:
Some regions, for example, those represented by the clone 1339, were absent from our cosmid libraries but present in BAC clones, suggesting a bias may have existed in the distribution of cosmid clones. A bias of Sau3AI sites (used to make the largest cosmid library) could have distorted the production and/or recovery of the smaller cosmid clones. Since we now have BAC clones from regions lacking cosmid clones, we can ask whether the frequency of Sau3AI sites (as revealed by the size of Sau3AI fragments) differs in these regions compared to those represented in the cosmid libraries. We took three BAC clones from a cosmid-poor region (BACN28B18, BACN4K08, BACR1E21) and three from a cosmid-rich region (BACR44L03, BACR21N24, BACR30L15) and digested their DNA with Sau3AI (Fig 3A). The restriction fragments of both groups are similar in size suggesting no difference in the distribution of Sau3AI sites.
|
To show that we could detect a restriction enzyme cleavage bias through restriction fragment size differences, we used two other restriction enzymes, MseI and HhaI. Whereas Sau3AI cleaves at the sequence GATC, in which AT and GC content are equal, MseI cleaves at an AT-rich site (TTAA), while HhaI cleaves at a GC-rich site (GCGC). A comparison of the size of restriction fragments produced by these enzymes in the same BAC clones shows a difference in cleavage frequency. MseI produces mostly small fragments of <1 kb (Fig 3C), whereas HhaI produces fragments that are mostly greater than 1 kb (Fig 3B). The easily observable difference in fragment lengths indicates we could have detected differences in Sau3AI restriction if they had existed. Thus we can rule out a bias in Sau3AI cleavage sites as the cause of the incomplete coverage of the chromosome by the cosmid clones. Furthermore, these data support the idea that chromosome 4, at least as it is represented by these BAC clones, is AT rich.
| DISCUSSION |
|---|
The presence of many gaps in our initial cosmid contig is not unexpected because several factors are known to bias the recovery of genomic regions using cosmid vectors. These include a bias in the distribution of cleavage sites for the restriction enzyme used to construct the libraries, the inability of a fragment to be propagated in E. coli, and the chance probability of a clone not being included. Attempts to walk across several of the gaps were confounded by the presence of repeated sequences at the termini of the flanking clones. ![]()
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Absence of clones in libraries built using partial digestion with Sau3AI might be due to a bias in the distribution of its cleavage site, GATC. This possibility was discarded for our partial Sau3AI cosmid library because BAC clones from regions within the gapped regions of the cosmid contigs had Sau3AI fragment sizes equivalent to those of BAC clones included in cosmid clones. Thus these sequences must be absent from these cosmid libraries for other reasons.
Previous in situ hybridization data have shown that chromosome 4 has a sequence distribution that differs from the other chromosomes (![]()
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We have localized 23 genes and anonymous cDNAs to the clone set shown in Fig 1. Included among the genes are four (ci, ey, spa/sv, and bt) of the seven visible mutations known to lie on the chromosome. ![]()
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The repetitive sequences within the ~2.9 Mb region of 2L consist of six LINE elements, 11 retrotransposons, and one short (~171 bp) repeat (![]()
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Our physical map will assist in the assembly of the DNA sequence for the entire chromosome. There are perhaps as many as 25 genes represented by lethal alleles and three more by visible mutations that have yet to be coupled to specific sequenced genes. We (![]()
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| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
|---|
We thank B. Hepperle, G. Rairdan, D. Adams, and E. Woloshyn for excellent technical assistance. We also thank J. Bell, D. Pilgrim, K. Roy, D. Nash, H. McDermid, and A. Ahmed for their earlier support and interest. In addition, we thank the many researchers who provided chromosome 4 sequence probes used to identify the cosmid and BAC clones in this work: K. Arora, B. Berwin, P. Callaerts, A. R. Campos, H. Clevers, J. L. Couderc, R. Dubreuil, S. C. R. Elgin, M. Forte, E. Frei, E. A. Fyrberg, C. S. Goodman, Y. Grau, T. E. Haerry, M.-L. A. Joiner, J. A. Kassis, S. Kunes, R. K. Kutty, P. Lasko, R. W. Levis, J. Mehrens, M. Noll, J. N. Noordermeer, C. J. O'Kane. S. N. Robinow, S. Russel, A. Scully, I. Sidén-Kiamos, B. Stronach, C. Sung, S. Sweeney, L. L. Wallrath, A. Whitworth, M. Winberg, A. Worthington, the Drosophila Genome Project at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the UK Human Genome Mapping Project Resource Centre. L.P. conducted or supervised the experimental work with the help of N.A. and H.K. J.L. and R.H. jointly conceived the project, designed the experimental approach and participated in the data analysis. J.L. wrote the article with substantial contributions from R.H. and L.P. This work was funded by grants from the Canadian Genome Analysis and Technology Program, the Medical Research Council of Canada, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
Manuscript received December 1, 1999; Accepted for publication March 22, 2000.
| APPENDIX |
|---|
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