Size fractionation ofTrypanosoma bruceiDNA: localization of the 177-bp repeat satellite DNA and a variant surface glycoprotein gene in a mini-chromosomal DNA fraction

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Abstract
We have size-fractionated intact DNA from Trypanosoma brucei into a major large DNA fraction (>350S) and minor middle-sized (60–250S) and small (<60S) DNA fractions. Large DNA contains the rRNA genes, the basic copy genes for several variant surface glycoproteins (VSGs), including one which lies near a telomer, and the expression-linked copies of two VSG genes. The middle-sized DNA contains at least one VSG gene, but the hybridization of this fraction with probes for the conserved repetitive sequences that mark the edges of the transposed segments of VSG genes, suggests that it may contain many VSG genes. The 177-bp repeat satellite DNA is also exclusively found in this fraction.