Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan.
Exp Cell Res. 2020 Apr 15;389(2):111898. doi: 10.1016/j.yexcr.2020.111898. Epub 2020 Feb 6.
The centromere is an essential genomic region that provides the surface to form the kinetochore, which binds to the spindle microtubes to mediate chromosome segregation during mitosis and meiosis. Centromeres of most organisms possess highly repetitive sequences, making it difficult to study these loci. However, an unusual centromere called a "neocentromere," which does not contain repetitive sequences, was discovered in a patient and can be generated experimentally. Recent advances in genome biology techniques allow us to analyze centromeric chromatin using neocentromeres. In addition to neocentromeres, artificial kinetochores have been generated on non-centromeric loci, using protein tethering systems. These are powerful tools to understand the mechanism of the centromere specification and kinetochore assembly. In this review, we introduce recent studies utilizing the neocentromeres and artificial kinetochores and discuss current problems in centromere biology.
着丝粒是基因组中一个重要的区域，为微管提供附着的表面，以在有丝分裂和减数分裂期间介导染色体分离。大多数生物体的着丝粒含有高度重复的序列，这使得这些基因座难以研究。然而，在患者中发现了一种不寻常的着丝粒，称为“新着丝粒”，它不包含重复序列，可以通过实验产生。基因组生物学技术的最新进展使得我们可以使用新着丝粒来分析着丝粒染色质。除了新着丝粒之外，还可以使用蛋白 tethering 系统在非着丝粒基因座上生成人工着丝粒。这些是理解着丝粒特征和着丝粒组装机制的有力工具。在这篇综述中，我们介绍了利用新着丝粒和人工着丝粒的最新研究，并讨论了着丝粒生物学中的当前问题。
