The centromere links a pair of sister chromatids together during cell division. This constricted region of chromosome connects the sister chromatids, creating a short arm (p) and a long arm (q) on the chromatids. During mitosis, spindle fibers attach to the centromere via the kinetochore.
Heterochromatin is a tightly packed form of DNA or condensed DNA, which comes in multiple varieties. These varieties lie on a continuum between the two extremes of constitutive heterochromatin and facultative heterochromatin. Both play a role in the expression of genes. Because it is tightly packed, it was thought to be inaccessible to polymerases and therefore not transcribed; however, according to Volpe et al. (2002), and many other papers since, much of this DNA is in fact transcribed, but it is continuously turned over via RNA-induced transcriptional silencing (RITS). Recent studies with electron microscopy and OsO4 staining reveal that the dense packing is not due to the chromatin.
Yeast artificial chromosomes (YACs) are genetically engineered chromosomes derived from the DNA of the yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which is then ligated into a bacterial plasmid. By inserting large fragments of DNA, from 100–1000 kb, the inserted sequences can be cloned and physically mapped using a process called chromosome walking. This is the process that was initially used for the Human Genome Project, however due to stability issues, YACs were abandoned for the use of bacterial artificial chromosome
Candida albicans is an opportunistic pathogenic yeast that is a common member of the human gut flora. It can also survive outside the human body. It is detected in the gastrointestinal tract and mouth in 40–60% of healthy adults. It is usually a commensal organism, but it can become pathogenic in immunocompromised individuals under a variety of conditions. It is one of the few species of the genus Candida that cause the human infection candidiasis, which results from an overgrowth of the fungus. Candidiasis is, for example, often observed in HIV-infected patients. C. albicans is the most common fungal species isolated from biofilms either formed on (permanent) implanted medical devices or on human tissue. C. albicans, C. tropicalis, C. parapsilosis, and C. glabrata are together responsible for 50–90% of all cases of candidiasis in humans. A mortality rate of 40% has been reported for patients with systemic candidiasis due to C. albicans. By one estimate, invasive candidiasis contracted in a hospital causes 2,800 to 11,200 deaths yearly in the US. Nevertheless, these numbers may not truly reflect the true extent of damage this organism causes, given new studies indicating that C. albicans can cross the blood–brain barrier in mice.
The spindle checkpoint, also known as the metaphase-to-anaphase transition, the spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC), the metaphase checkpoint, or the mitotic checkpoint, is a cell cycle checkpoint during metaphase of mitosis or meiosis that prevents the separation of the duplicated chromosomes (anaphase) until each chromosome is properly attached to the spindle. To achieve proper segregation, the two kinetochores on the sister chromatids must be attached to opposite spindle poles. Only this pattern of attachment will ensure that each daughter cell receives one copy of the chromosome. The defining biochemical feature of this checkpoint is the stimulation of the anaphase-promoting complex by M-phase cyclin-CDK complexes, which in turn causes the proteolytic destruction of cyclins and proteins that hold the sister chromatids together.
A kinetochore is a disc-shaped protein structure associated with duplicated chromatids in eukaryotic cells where the spindle fibers attach during cell division to pull sister chromatids apart. The kinetochore assembles on the centromere and links the chromosome to microtubule polymers from the mitotic spindle during mitosis and meiosis. The term kinetochore was first used in a footnote in a 1934 Cytology book by Lester W. Sharp and commonly accepted in 1936. Sharp's footnote reads: "The convenient term kinetochore has been suggested to the author by J. A. Moore", likely referring to John Alexander Moore who had joined Columbia University as a freshman in 1932.
A minichromosome is a small chromatin-like structure resembling a chromosome and consisting of centromeres, telomeres and replication origins but little additional genetic material. They replicate autonomously in the cell during cellular division. Minichromosomes may be created by natural processes as chromosomal aberrations or by genetic engineering.
Cohesin is a protein complex that mediates sister chromatid cohesion, homologous recombination, and DNA looping. Cohesin is formed of SMC3, SMC1, SCC1 and SCC3. Cohesin holds sister chromatids together after DNA replication until anaphase when removal of cohesin leads to separation of sister chromatids. The complex forms a ring-like structure and it is believed that sister chromatids are held together by entrapment inside the cohesin ring. Cohesin is a member of the SMC family of protein complexes which includes Condensin, MukBEF and SMC-ScpAB.
Centromere protein A, also known as CENPA, is a protein which in humans is encoded by the CENPA gene. CENPA is a histone H3 variant which is the critical factor determining the kinetochore position(s) on each chromosome in most eukaryotes including humans.
Mitotic checkpoint protein BUB3 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the BUB3 gene.
Centromere protein H is a protein that in humans is encoded by the CENPH gene. It is involved in the assembly of kinetochore proteins, mitotic progression and chromosome segregation.
Shugoshin 1 or Shugoshin-like 1, is a protein that in humans is encoded by the SGO1 gene.
Syntelic attachment occurs when both sister chromosomes are attached to a single spindle pole.
Neocentromeres are new centromeres that form at a place on the chromosome that is usually not centromeric. They typically arise due to disruption of the normal centromere. These neocentromeres should not be confused with “knobs”, which were also described as “neocentromeres” in maize in the 1950s. Unlike most normal centromeres, neocentromeres do not contain satellite sequences that are highly repetitive but instead consist of unique sequences. Despite this, most neocentromeres are still able to carry out the functions of normal centromeres in regulating chromosome segregation and inheritance. This raises many questions on what is necessary versus what is sufficient for constituting a centromere.
Robin Campbell Allshire is Professor of Chromosome Biology at University of Edinburgh and a Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow. His research group at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology focuses on the epigenetic mechanisms governing the assembly of specialised domains of chromatin and their transmission through cell division.
Beatrice B. "Bebe" Magee is an American biochemist and geneticist with expertise in molecular mycology and fungal genetics. She earned her B. A. in chemistry from Brandeis University in 1962 and her M. A. in biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1964. She has been co-author on over 40 publications in peer-reviewed journals and an invited speaker at scientific meetings including Woods Hole and Cold Spring Harbor courses as well as at professional mycology societies.
Kenneth Henry Wolfe is an Irish geneticist and professor of genomic evolution at University College Dublin (UCD), Ireland.
Holocentric chromosomes are chromosomes that possess multiple kinetochores along their length rather than the single centromere typical of other chromosomes. They were first described in cytogenetic experiments in 1935. Since this first observation, the term holocentric chromosome has referred to chromosomes that: i) lack the primary constriction corresponding to the centromere observed in monocentric chromosomes; and ii) possess multiple kinetochores dispersed along the entire chromosomal axis, such that microtubules bind to the chromosome along its entire length and move broadside to the pole from the metaphase plate. Holocentric chromosomes are also termed holokinetic, because, during cell division, the sister chromatids move apart in parallel and do not form the classical V-shaped figures typical of monocentric chromosomes.
Joseph Heitman is an American physician-scientist focused on research in genetics, microbiology, and infectious diseases. He is the James B. Duke Professor and Chair of the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at Duke University School of Medicine.
The monocentric chromosome is a chromosome that has only one centromere in a chromosome and forms a narrow constriction.
