IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v10y2019i1d10.1038_s41467-019-09824-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Interspecies conservation of organisation and function between nonhomologous regional centromeres

Author

Listed:
  • Pin Tong

    (The University of Edinburgh)

  • Alison L. Pidoux

    (The University of Edinburgh)

  • Nicholas R. T. Toda

    (The University of Edinburgh
    UPMC CNRS, Roscoff Marine Station)

  • Ryan Ard

    (The University of Edinburgh
    University of Copenhagen)

  • Harald Berger

    (The University of Edinburgh
    Universität für Bodenkultur Wien, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences)

  • Manu Shukla

    (The University of Edinburgh)

  • Jesus Torres-Garcia

    (The University of Edinburgh)

  • Carolin A. Müller

    (University of Oxford)

  • Conrad A. Nieduszynski

    (University of Oxford)

  • Robin C. Allshire

    (The University of Edinburgh)

Abstract

Despite the conserved essential function of centromeres, centromeric DNA itself is not conserved. The histone-H3 variant, CENP-A, is the epigenetic mark that specifies centromere identity. Paradoxically, CENP-A normally assembles on particular sequences at specific genomic locations. To gain insight into the specification of complex centromeres, here we take an evolutionary approach, fully assembling genomes and centromeres of related fission yeasts. Centromere domain organization, but not sequence, is conserved between Schizosaccharomyces pombe, S. octosporus and S. cryophilus with a central CENP-ACnp1 domain flanked by heterochromatic outer-repeat regions. Conserved syntenic clusters of tRNA genes and 5S rRNA genes occur across the centromeres of S. octosporus and S. cryophilus, suggesting conserved function. Interestingly, nonhomologous centromere central-core sequences from S. octosporus and S. cryophilus are recognized in S. pombe, resulting in cross-species establishment of CENP-ACnp1 chromatin and functional kinetochores. Therefore, despite the lack of sequence conservation, Schizosaccharomyces centromere DNA possesses intrinsic conserved properties that promote assembly of CENP-A chromatin.

Suggested Citation

  • Pin Tong & Alison L. Pidoux & Nicholas R. T. Toda & Ryan Ard & Harald Berger & Manu Shukla & Jesus Torres-Garcia & Carolin A. Müller & Conrad A. Nieduszynski & Robin C. Allshire, 2019. "Interspecies conservation of organisation and function between nonhomologous regional centromeres," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-13, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-09824-4
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-09824-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-09824-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-019-09824-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Alberto Jiménez-Martín & Alberto Pineda-Santaella & Rebeca Martín-García & Rodrigo Esteban-Villafañe & Alix Matarrese & Jesús Pinto-Cruz & Sergio Camacho-Cabañas & Daniel León-Periñán & Antonia Terriz, 2025. "Centromere positioning orchestrates telomere bouquet formation and the initiation of meiotic differentiation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-19, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-09824-4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.