Detection of DNA Rearrangement in Rice Using a Cosmid Library

Previously we reported the migration and rearrangement of a chloroplast gene cluster into mitochondria. The exact genomic locations of the clusters, modes of the gene rearrangement and mechanisms of the interorganellar migration of the clusters have yet to be understood. The detailed analysis needs to include a larger region of DNA surrounding each cluster. To study DNA rearrangement and migration in more detail a cosmid library was constructed using the total rice genomic DNA including nuclear, chloroplast and mitochondrial DNA. From this cosmid library, a sub-library was obtained by selecting the clones hybridized to various regions of chloroplast DNA. According to the hybridization pattern 136 clones from the sub-library were classified into 29 groups. Detailed analysis of these clones revealed that in addition to authentic chloroplast DNA, the clones contain its homologs resulted from rearrangement and mutation. We analyzed two clones in detail, which contain different rp12 homologs resulted from rearrangement and/or migration, respectively.