Centromere location in Arabidopsis is unaltered by extreme divergence in CENH3 protein sequence.

ABSTRACT: During cell division, spindle fibers attach to chromosomes at centromeres. The DNA sequence at regional centromeres is fast evolving with no conserved genetic signature for centromere identity. Instead CENH3, a centromere-specific histone H3 variant, is the epigenetic signature that specifies centromere location across both plant and animal kingdoms. Paradoxically, CENH3 is also adaptively evolving. An ongoing question is whether CENH3 evolution is driven by a functional relationship with the underlying DNA sequence. Here, we demonstrate that despite extensive protein sequence divergence, CENH3 histones from distant species assemble centromeres on the same underlying DNA sequence. We first characterized the organization and diversity of centromere repeats in wild-type Arabidopsis thalia

SUBMITTER: Maheshwari S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5340974 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature