Intraspecific variability of satellites on sex chromosomes of Rumex acetosa

Satellite DNAs are among the most rapidly evolving genomic elements, and a large fraction is species-specific, yet there have been few studies on how quickly satellites diversify within a species. We addressed this question by comparative analysis of tandem repeats in 14 geographically distant European populations of the dioecious plant Rumex acetosa with a high number of satellites accumulating preferentially on heteromorphic sex chromosomes XY1Y2.