Sun X, Wahlstrom J, Karpen G
Molecular Biology and Virology Laboratory, The Salk Institute, La Jolla, California 92037, USA.
Cell. 1997 Dec 26;91(7):1007-19. doi: 10.1016/s0092-8674(00)80491-2.
Centromeres play a critical role in chromosome inheritance but are among the most difficult genomic components to analyze in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a highly detailed molecular structure of a functional centromere in a multicellular organism. The centromere of the Drosophila minichromosome Dp1187 is contained within a 420 kb region of centric heterochromatin. We have used a new approach to characterize the detailed structure of this centromere and found that it is primarily composed of satellites and single, complete transposable elements. In the rest of the Drosophila genome, these satellites and transposable elements are neither unique to the centromeres nor present at all centromeres. We discuss the impact of these results on our understanding of heterochromatin structure and on the determinants of centromere identity and function.
着丝粒在染色体遗传中起着关键作用，但却是多细胞真核生物中最难分析的基因组组成部分之一。在此，我们展示了多细胞生物中功能性着丝粒的高度详细分子结构。果蝇小染色体Dp1187的着丝粒包含在420 kb的中心异染色质区域内。我们采用了一种新方法来表征该着丝粒的详细结构，发现它主要由卫星序列和单个完整的转座元件组成。在果蝇基因组的其他区域，这些卫星序列和转座元件既不是着丝粒所特有的，也并非存在于所有着丝粒中。我们讨论了这些结果对我们理解异染色质结构以及着丝粒身份和功能决定因素的影响。
