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Molecular and Cellular Biology, October 1999, p. 6682-6689, Vol. 19, No. 10
0270-7306/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Regulated Formation of Extrachromosomal Circular DNA Molecules during Development in Xenopus laevis

Sarit Cohen, Sophie Menut, and Marcel Méchali*

Institute of Human Genetics, CNRS, Genome Dynamics and Development, 34396 Montpellier Cedex 5, France

Received 19 February 1999/Returned for modification 25 March 1999/Accepted 21 June 1999

Extrachromosomal circular DNA molecules of chromosomal origin have been detected in many organisms and are thought to reflect genomic plasticity in eukaryotic cells. Here we report a developmentally regulated formation of extrachromosomal circular DNA that occurs de novo in preblastula Xenopus embryos. This specific DNA population is not detected in the male or female germ cells and is dramatically reduced in later developmental stages and in adult tissues. The activity responsible for the de novo production of extrachromosomal circles is maternally inherited, is stored in the unfertilized egg, and requires genomic DNA as a template. The formation of circular molecules does not require genomic DNA replication but both processes can occur simultaneously in the early development. The production of extrachromosomal circular DNA does not proceed at random since multimers of the tandemly repeated sequence satellite 1 were over-represented in the circle population, while other sequences (such as ribosomal DNA and JCC31 repeated sequence) were not detected. This phenomenon reveals an unexpected plasticity of the embryonic genome which is restricted to the early developmental stage.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute of Human Genetics, CNRS, Genome Dynamics and Development, 141, Rue de la Cardonille, 34396 Montpellier Cedex 5, France. Phone: 33-(0) 4-99-61-99-17. Fax: 33-(0) 4-99-61-99-20. E-mail: mechali{at}igh.cnrs.fr.

Molecular and Cellular Biology, October 1999, p. 6682-6689, Vol. 19, No. 10
0270-7306/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Cohen, S., Agmon, N., Yacobi, K., Mislovati, M., Segal, D. (2005). Evidence for rolling circle replication of tandem genes in Drosophila. Nucleic Acids Res 33: 4519-4526 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Lin, C.-Y., Chang, H.-H., Wu, K.-J., Tseng, S.-F., Lin, C.-C., Lin, C.-P., Teng, S.-C. (2005). Extrachromosomal Telomeric Circles Contribute to Rad52-, Rad50-, and Polymerase {delta}-Mediated Telomere-Telomere Recombination in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Eukaryot Cell 4: 327-336 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Cohen, S., Yacobi, K., Segal, D. (2003). Extrachromosomal Circular DNA of Tandemly Repeated Genomic Sequences in Drosophila. Genome Res 13: 1133-1145 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Cohen, S., Mechali, M. (2001). A novel cell-free system reveals a mechanism of circular DNA formation from tandem repeats. Nucleic Acids Res 29: 2542-2548 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


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