A REPETITIVE ELEMENT IN THE GENOME OF ATLANTIC SALMON, SALMO-SALAR

When Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) genomic DNA is digested with the restriction endonuclease BglI and the fragments separated by agarose-gel electrophoresis, bands corresponding to approximately 430 and 923 bp are visualized after EtdBr staining. The 923-bp band was excised from a preparative gel and used to screen a salmon genomic library for recombinant phage (re-phage) containing the repeat. The BglI repeat element is tandemly arrayed, and an array from one re-phage has been sequenced. The BglI repeats comprise 2.3% of the S. salar genome and have been found in the vicinity of rDNA genes (encoding ribosomal RNA). Southern blot hybridization detects a homologue of the Atlantic salmon BglI repeat in the brown trout (Salmo trutta) genome, but not in other salmonids. However, a DNA fragment with sequence homology to part of the BflI repeat has recently been isolated from Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus; S.E. Hartley and W.S.D., unpublished data). In addition, the BglI repeat detects RFLPs in Atlantic salmon.