Lack of recognition of a mouse centromere by anti-centromere proteins.

In studies dealing with cancer as well as mutagenesis, the centromere region is being looked at critically. Generally, this region of chromosomes reacts to certain antibodies present in the sera of scleroderma patients. Some chromosomes in the Cl1D cell culture of mouse origin fail to respond to these antibodies even though, in a sub-metacentric chromosome, they do react at a site distal to the centromere. This site of reaction, though, coincides with the presence of minor satellite DNA. Is it that neither the minor satellite nor the so-called CENPs constitute an essential component of a functional centromere?