Comparative analysis of the MSAT-160 repeats in four species of common vole (Microtus, Arvicolidae)

The highly repeated tandemly arranged satellite DNA from the MSAT-160 family has been studied in 4 species of common vole (the Microtus arvalis group). All the monomer units analysed were classified into 4 subfamilies on the basis of similar nucleotide substitutions. The first 3 subfamilies do not show any species specificity since they combine monomers from several of the vole species examined; the fourth subfamily contains monomer units with substitutions specific to M. arvalis. Certain monomers of different species within the first 3 subfamilies display additional identical substitutions, making them more similar. Despite considerable similarity in monomer sequence within the subfamilies, specific features were found for each of the 4 species. A specific ratio of each type of monomer belonging to the corresponding subfamilies is typical of each species. In addition, the genomes of common vole species differ in the abundance of the MSAT-160 DNA, its pericentromeric location and organization. The mechanisms possibly involved in the evolution of the common vole MSAT-160 sequences are discussed. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.