Centromeric transposable elements and epigenetic status drive karyotypic variation in the eastern hoolock gibbon.

ABSTRACT: Great apes have maintained a stable karyotype with few large-scale rearrangements; in contrast, gibbons have undergone a high rate of chromosomal rearrangements coincident with rapid centromere turnover. Here we characterize assembled centromeres in the Eastern hoolock gibbon, Hoolock leuconedys (HLE), finding a diverse group of transposable elements (TEs) that differ from the canonical alpha satellites found across centromeres of other apes. We find that HLE centromeres contain a CpG methylation centromere dip region, providing evidence this epigenetic feature is conserved in the absence of satellite arrays; nevertheless, we report a variety of atypical centromeric features, including protein-coding genes and mismatched replication timing. Further, large structural variations defin

SUBMITTER: Hartley GA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11384015 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature