A paucity of heterochromatin at functional human neocentromeres.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Centromeres are responsible for the proper segregation of replicated chromatids during cell division. Neocentromeres are fully functional ectopic human centromeres that form on low-copy DNA sequences and permit analysis of centromere structure in relation to the underlying DNA sequence. Such structural analysis is not possible at endogenous centromeres because of the large amounts of repetitive alpha satellite DNA present.

Results

High-resolution chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) on CHIP (microarray) analysis of three independent neocentromeres from chromosome 13q revealed that each neocentromere contained approximately 100 kb of centromere protein (CENP)-A in a two-domain organization. Additional CENP-A domains were observed in the vicinity of neocentromeres,

SUBMITTER: Alonso A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2845132 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature