Simple and Complex Centromeric Satellites in Drosophila Sibling Species

Genetics: A Periodical Record of Investigations Bearing on Heredity and Variation

Paul B. Talbert^1¹  Steven Henikoff^1¹  Sivakanthan Kasinathan^2² 

[1] Basic Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington 98109;Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Seattle, Washington 98109^1;Medical Scientist Training Program, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington 98195^2

关键词: ChIP;    Cid;    rotational phasing;    prod;   

DOI  :  10.1534/genetics.117.300620

学科分类：医学（综合）

来源: Genetics Society of America

【 摘 要 】

Centromeres are the chromosomal sites of assembly for kinetochores, the protein complexes that attach to spindle fibers and mediate separation of chromosomes to daughter cells in mitosis and meiosis. In most multicellular organisms, centromeres comprise a single specific family of tandem repeats—often 100–400 bp in length—found on every chromosome, typically in one location within heterochromatin. Drosophila melanogaster is unusual in that the heterochromatin contains many families of mostly short (5–12 bp) tandem repeats, none of which appear to be present at all centromeres, and none of which are found only at centromeres. Although centromere sequences from a minichromosome have been identified and candidate centromere sequences have been proposed, the DNA sequences at native Drosophila centromeres remain unknown. Here we use native chromatin immunoprecipitation to identify the centromeric sequences bound by the foundational kinetochore protein cenH3, known in vertebrates as CENP-A. In D. melanogaster , these sequences include a few families of 5- and 10-bp repeats; but in closely related D. simulans , the centromeres comprise more complex repeats. The results suggest that a recent expansion of short repeats has replaced more complex centromeric repeats in D . melanogaster .

【 授权许可】

CC BY