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Conservation of Inverted Repeats in Chloroplast DNA from the Genus Zea: Teosinte¹

Self-renatured corn (Zea mays L.) and teosinte (Zea spp.) chloroplast DNAs (ctDNAs) were examined by electron microscopy. Molecular conformation was that of one large and one small single-stranded DNA loop separated by a large duplex region. Within the genus Zea, it is now apparent that the ctDNA genomes contain a sequence repeated once in reverse polarity, that each sequence is approximately 15.5% of the native length of the ctDNA, and that the sequence is highly conserved. Although we have no direct evidence that the inverted ctDNA sequence in teosinte codes for the chloroplast rRNA genes, as in corn, the similarity in the conformation of the corn and teosinte ctDNAs allows the speculation that the teosinte inverted repeat has a similar function to that of corn.

Key Words: Electron microscopy • Zea mays L. • Zea spp.

² Professor and research assistant, Dep. of Crop Science, and professor, Dep. of Genetics, North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC 27650.

Received for publication June 16, 1980.