Meiosis-specific loading of the centromere-specific histone CENH3 in Arabidopsis thaliana.

ABSTRACT: Centromere behavior is specialized in meiosis I, so that sister chromatids of homologous chromosomes are pulled toward the same side of the spindle (through kinetochore mono-orientation) and chromosome number is reduced. Factors required for mono-orientation have been identified in yeast. However, comparatively little is known about how meiotic centromere behavior is specialized in animals and plants that typically have large tandem repeat centromeres. Kinetochores are nucleated by the centromere-specific histone CENH3. Unlike conventional histone H3s, CENH3 is rapidly evolving, particularly in its N-terminal tail domain. Here we describe chimeric variants of CENH3 with alterations in the N-terminal tail that are specifically defective in meiosis. Arabidopsis thaliana cenh3 mutants express

SUBMITTER: Ravi M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3111537 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature