Recent Evolution of DNA Sequence Homology in the Pericentromeric Regions of Human Acrocentric Chromosomes

A search for genes located on human chromosome 21 resulted in the isolation of a HeLa cDNA clone, pUNC724, which hybridized to 3.7 and 2.5 kilobase (kb) EcoRI fragments on each of the human acrocentric chromosomes. In situ hybridization further localized pUNC724 to the pericentromeric region of the human acrocentrics. Two other EcoRI fragments that hybridized to pUNC724 were assigned to the long arms of chromosomes 1 and 18. The pUNC724 sequence does not appear to be related to ribosomal or satellite DNA sequences. The juxtaposition of DNA sequences homologous to pUNC724 and ribosomal DNA sequences presumably occurred within the past thirty-five million years, following the divergence of the lines leading to man and the New World owl monkey, Aotus trivirgatus--pUNC724 is not syntenic with the single chromosome containing ribosomal DNA sequences in the owl monkey.