RbAp46/48LIN-53 and HAT-1 are required for initial CENP-AHCP-3 deposition and de novo holocentromere formation on artificial chromosomes in Caenorhabditis elegans embryos.

Foreign DNA microinjected into the Caenorhabditis elegans syncytial gonad forms episomal extra-chromosomal arrays, or artificial chromosomes (ACs), in embryos. Short, linear DNA fragments injected concatemerize into high molecular weight (HMW) DNA arrays that are visible as punctate DAPI-stained foci in oocytes, and they undergo chromatinization and centromerization in embryos. The inner centromere, inner kinetochore and spindle checkpoint components, including AIR-2, CENP-AHCP-3, Mis18BP1KNL-2 and BUB-1, respectively, assemble onto the nascent ACs during the first mitosis. The DNA replication efficiency of ACs improves over several cell cycles, which correlates with the improvement of kinetochore bi-orientation and proper segregation of ACs. Depletion of condensin II subunits, like CAPG-2 and SMC-4, but not the replicative helicase component, MCM-2, reduces de novo CENP-AHCP-3 level on nascent ACs. Furthermore, H3K9ac, H4K5ac and H4K12ac are highly enriched on newly chromatinized ACs. RbAp46/48LIN-53 and HAT-1, which affect the acetylation of histone H3 and H4, are essential for chromatinization, de novo centromere formation and segregation competency of nascent ACs. RbAp46/48LIN-53 or HAT-1 depletion causes the loss of both CENP-AHCP-3 and Mis18BP1KNL-2 initial deposition at de novo centromeres on ACs. This phenomenon is different from centromere maintenance on endogenous chromosomes, where Mis18BP1KNL-2 functions upstream of RbAp46/48LIN-53.