Abstract
Neocentromeres Come of Age
Highlights
The authors based their study on the pathogenic fungus Candida albicans, which has small, simple, regional centromeres flanked by inverted repeats, and extremely high rates of homologous recombination
These neocentromeres fell into two distinct classes: proximal neocentromeres, which formed close to the location of the original, excised centromere (Figure 1B); and distal neocentromeres, which formed at all other locations on the chromosome (Figure 1C)
The only similarity, seemed to be that all neocentromeres formed within intergenic regions on the chromosome—not surprising, perhaps, considering the negative effect that centromeric chromatin appears to have on gene expression in Candida
Summary
Neocentromeres (not to be confused with the ‘‘classical’’ facultative neocentromeres, which were originally described in maize (reviewed in [3]) have been shown to be a means of centromere repositioning during karyotype evolution and speciation in vertebrates, with evidence suggesting a similar role in plants (for review, see [4]). Their approach was to remove the centromeric DNA on Chromosome V by replacing it with URA3, a selectable marker gene, and observe the positioning and frequency of neocentromeres that resulted via chromatin immunoprecipitation for the fundamental centromere marker protein CENP-A (Figure 1A). The results were striking: the authors found an extremely high frequency of neocentromere formation (with neocentromeres forming in all transformants) at multiple possible locations along Chromosome V.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
