Trypanosoma cruzi has about 105 copies of a 195bp repeat, called satellite DNA, which
correspond to about 10% of the total DNA. Since very little is known about satellite
distribution and function in this and in many other organisms, we studied the genomic
organization of satellite DNA in T. cruzi Y, CL Brener, and Silvio X10 cl1 strains. We found
that satellite repeats are present in some, but not all, chromosomes in these strains. We also
found that the copy number of the satellite repeats is distinct in each one of the strains. We …