Timing of replication of beta satellite repeats of human chromosomes

Abstract

The beta satellite sequences of the human genome are a family of genetic elements consisting of 68 - 69 bp monomeric units repeated contiguously in long arrays up to 1 Mb in length. We have determined the timing of replication of beta satellite subgroups located In the heterochromatlc portion of chromosome 9 and on the acrocentric chromosomes in regions both distal and proximal to the rDNA genes. We report that these dispersed subgroups of beta satellite sequences all replicate late during S phase of the cell cycle. © 1993 IRL Press at Oxford University Press.