Centromeres play virtually the same central role across the entire tree of life: They ensure the faithful segregation of chromosomes during cell division. Yet the striking diversity in centromere ...

A genomic study of human and selected nonhuman primate centromeres has revealed their unimaginable diversity and speed of evolutionary change. Although centromeres are vital to proper cell replication ...

Super-resolution microscopy image of a mitotic chromosome (white) with the centromeres of each sister chromatid depicted in orange. Each centromere consists of two distinct chromatin subdomains ...

The centromere of chromosomes plays a crucial role in cell division. Using the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, an international team of researchers has investigated how two crucial proteins -- KNL2 ...

Researchers from the Kops group in collaboration with researchers from the University of Edinburgh, made a surprising new discovery in the structure of the centromere, a structure that is involved in ...

In cells, CENP-A binds to histone H4 and HJURP before it is incorporated into the centromere. The previous model proposed that HJURP recognizes Mis18C and CENP-A is incorporated into the centromere ...

Due to their repetitive and complex DNA sequences, centromeres have been viewed as the "black boxes" of the genome for decades. Often overlooked in sequencing projects but playing a critical role in ...

Despite the immense amount of genetic material present in each cell, around three billion base pairs in humans, this material needs to be accurately divided in two and allocated in equal quantities.

Six years ago, when Glennis Logsdon was a graduate student, everyone assumed that centromeres had conserved sequences and structures given their essential role in divvying up genetic material. “We had ...

Just one enzyme manages the refilling of the cellular soda machine that replicates our genes. PLK-1 initiates a process in two protein groups, leading to creation of new CENP-A proteins. These CENP-A ...