Rollo F, Venanzi F M, Amici A
Dipartimento di Biologia Molecolare, Cellulare e Animale, Università di Camerino, Italy.
Genet Res. 1991 Dec;58(3):193-201. doi: 10.1017/s0016672300029943.
Nucleic acids fractions were isolated from pre-Columbian maize seeds and characterized using different approaches such as polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, anti-DNA antibody binding, HPLC fractionation, molecular hybridization with cloned genes, and DNA amplification by the polymerase chain reaction. The nucleic acids were found to be very depolymerized (less than or equal to 140 base pairs in length) and composed mainly of ribosomal RNA. Despite the very low amount and degree of polymerization of seed DNA, specific maize nuclear Mu1, Mu4, Mu8 and, possibly, Mu5 element components could be detected, thanks to the use of amplification systems as short as 90 bp. The results suggest that evaluation of the relative proportions of Mu-type element components and, possibly, other maize genomic components in single mummified kernels, may offer a new key to the study of ancient maize populations.
从哥伦布发现美洲大陆之前的玉米种子中分离出核酸组分，并使用不同方法进行表征，如聚丙烯酰胺凝胶电泳、抗DNA抗体结合、高效液相色谱分级分离、与克隆基因的分子杂交以及通过聚合酶链反应进行DNA扩增。发现这些核酸高度解聚（长度小于或等于140个碱基对），且主要由核糖体RNA组成。尽管种子DNA的量和聚合程度非常低，但借助仅90 bp的扩增系统，仍可检测到特定的玉米核Mu1、Mu4、Mu8以及可能的Mu5元件成分。结果表明，评估单个木乃伊化籽粒中Mu型元件成分以及可能的其他玉米基因组成分的相对比例，可能为研究古代玉米种群提供新的关键线索。
