Jiang Jiming, Birchler James A, Parrott Wayne A, Dawe R Kelly
Department of Horticulture, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
Trends Plant Sci. 2003 Dec;8(12):570-5. doi: 10.1016/j.tplants.2003.10.011.
Although plants were the organisms of choice in several classical centromere studies, molecular and biochemical studies of plant centromeres have lagged behind those in model animal species. However, in the past several years, several centromeric repetitive DNA elements have been isolated in plant species and their roles in centromere function have been demonstrated. Most significantly, a Ty3/gypsy class of centromere-specific retrotransposons, the CR family, was discovered in the grass species. The CR elements are highly enriched in chromatin domains associated with CENH3, the centromere-specific histone H3 variant. CR elements as well as their flanking centromeric satellite DNA are actively transcribed in maize. These data suggest that the deposition of centromeric histones might be a transcription-coupled event.
尽管在一些经典的着丝粒研究中植物是首选的生物，但植物着丝粒的分子和生化研究落后于模式动物物种。然而，在过去几年中，几种着丝粒重复DNA元件已在植物物种中分离出来，并且它们在着丝粒功能中的作用已得到证实。最显著的是，在禾本科物种中发现了一类Ty3/gypsy着丝粒特异性逆转座子，即CR家族。CR元件在与着丝粒特异性组蛋白H3变体CENH3相关的染色质结构域中高度富集。CR元件及其侧翼着丝粒卫星DNA在玉米中活跃转录。这些数据表明着丝粒组蛋白的沉积可能是一个转录偶联事件。
