This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplemental Research Data Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Ventura, M. Articles by Rocchi, M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Ventura, M. Articles by Rocchi, M. Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Letter

Recurrent Sites for New Centromere Seeding

¹ Sezione di Genetica-Dipartimento di Anatomia Patologica e Genetica, University of Bari, 70126 Bari, Italy ² Center for Research into Molecular Genetics Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Bologna, Institute of Histology and General Embryology, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy ³ Department of Medical Genetics, Panum Institute, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark ⁴ Department of Molecular Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, 17176 Stockholm, Sweden ⁵ Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute, Oakland, California 94609, USA ⁶ Department of Genetics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio 44106, USA

Using comparative FISH and genomics, we have studied and compared the evolution of chromosome 3 in primates and two human neocentromere cases on the long arm of this chromosome. Our results show that one of the human neocentromere cases maps to the same 3q26 chromosomal region where a new centromere emerged in a common ancestor of the Old World monkeys 25-40 million years ago. Similarly, the locus in which a new centromere was seeded in the great apes' ancestor was orthologous to the site in which a new centromere emerged in the New World monkeys' ancestor. These data suggest the recurrent use of longstanding latent centromeres and that there is an inherent potential of these regions to form centromeres. The second human neocentromere case (3q24) revealed unprecedented features. The neocentromere emergence was not accompanied by any chromosomal rearrangement that usually triggers these events. Instead, it involved the functional inactivation of the normal centromere, and was present in an otherwise phenotypically normal individual who transmitted this unusual chromosome to the next generation. We propose that the formation of neocentromeres in humans and the emergence of new centromeres during the course of evolution share a common mechanism.

[Supplemental material is available online at www.genome.org.]

Article and publication are at http://www.genome.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/gr.2608804.

⁸ Orthologous chromosomes can have a different chromosome number in different species because, in each species, they are ordered on the basis of chromosome size only. To avoid confusion, the human nomenclature will be used. The actual chromosome number in the different species is reported on top of each chromosome in Figure 1.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				E. Darai-Ramqvist, A. Sandlund, S. Muller, G. Klein, S. Imreh, and M. Kost-Alimova Segmental duplications and evolutionary plasticity at tumor chromosome break-prone regions Genome Res., March 1, 2008; 18(3): 370 - 379. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. Ventura, F. Antonacci, M. F. Cardone, R. Stanyon, P. D'Addabbo, A. Cellamare, L. J. Sprague, E. E. Eichler, N. Archidiacono, and M. Rocchi Evolutionary Formation of New Centromeres in Macaque Science, April 13, 2007; 316(5822): 243 - 246. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				B. E. Black, M. A. Brock, S. Bedard, V. L. Woods Jr., and D. W. Cleveland An epigenetic mark generated by the incorporation of CENP-A into centromeric nucleosomes PNAS, March 20, 2007; 104(12): 5008 - 5013. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L. E.T. Jansen, B. E. Black, D. R. Foltz, and D. W. Cleveland Propagation of centromeric chromatin requires exit from mitosis J. Cell Biol., March 12, 2007; 176(6): 795 - 805. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. Rocchi, N. Archidiacono, and R. Stanyon Ancestral genomes reconstruction: An integrated, multi-disciplinary approach is needed Genome Res., December 1, 2006; 16(12): 1441 - 1444. [Full Text] [PDF]

				H. Yan, H. Ito, K. Nobuta, S. Ouyang, W. Jin, S. Tian, C. Lu, R.C. Venu, G.-l. Wang, P. J. Green, et al. Genomic and Genetic Characterization of Rice Cen3 Reveals Extensive Transcription and Evolutionary Implications of a Complex Centromere PLANT CELL, September 1, 2006; 18(9): 2123 - 2133. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				G. Roizes Human centromeric alphoid domains are periodically homogenized so that they vary substantially between homologues. Mechanism and implications for centromere functioning. Nucleic Acids Res., January 1, 2006; 34(6): 1912 - 1924. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. Webber and C. P. Ponting Hotspots of mutation and breakage in dog and human chromosomes Genome Res., December 1, 2005; 15(12): 1787 - 1797. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				G. C. Ferreri, D. M. Liscinsky, J. A. Mack, M. D. B. Eldridge, and R. J. O'Neill Retention of Latent Centromeres in the Mammalian Genome J. Hered., May 1, 2005; 96(3): 217 - 224. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. Misceo, M. F. Cardone, L. Carbone, P. D'Addabbo, P. J. de Jong, M. Rocchi, and N. Archidiacono Evolutionary History of Chromosome 20 Mol. Biol. Evol., February 1, 2005; 22(2): 360 - 366. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]