A novel sequence common to the centromere regions ofSchizosaccharomyces pombechromosomes

Abstract

An approximately 4 kb long sequence (designated dh) is located in the centromere regions of all three chromosomes of S. pombe. There is one copy each of dh per centromere in chromosomes I and II and multiples in the centromere of chromosome III. Nucleotide sequence determination shows that dhI and dhII are highly homologous. A part of the sequence (ca. 300-400 bp) contains short direct repeats, otherwise dh is in general internally nonrepetitious. Although there are three segmental deletions (total 821 bp) and two insertions (27 bp) in dhII (an 80% overall homology to dhI), there are only nine substitutions between dhI and dhII in the remaining 3980 bp, giving a 99.77% homology. The substitutions are restricted to the non-repetitious domains and are only of the pyrimidine-pyrimidine or purine-purine types. A possible conformational role of dh is discussed. INTRODUCTIONThe centromere is a functional domain of chromosomes, the attachment site for kinetochore microtubules which radiate from the centrosomes to separate

A low copy number central sequence with strict symmetry and unusual chromatin structure in fission yeast centromere.

“…Sequences for the outer repetitive areas were reported previously (Nakaseko et al, 1986(Nakaseko et al, , 1987Chikashige et al, 1989) as was restriction site information Clarke and Baum, 1990;Hahnenberger et al, 1991;Murakami et al, 1991). Hence, the total of -60 kb of nucleotide sequences so far determined has uncovered the complex sequence structures present within the centromeres.…”

“…The outer repetitive (designated otr) domains consist of repeating elements common to all cens. otr nucleotide sequences were reported previously; the dg element is indicated by filled arrows (Nakaseko et al, 1986;similar to K, Clarke et al, 1986), whereas the dh element is indicated by hatched arrows with and without the open box (Nakaseko et al, 1987;similar to L in Fishel et al, 1988). dg and dh were defined by sequence determination, whereas K and L by restriction enzyme digestion analysis.…”

“…Functional centromeric DNAs have been isolated and characterized in two organisms, namely, the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Clarke and Carbon, 1985;Murray and Szostak, 1985;Newlon, 1988;Cotterel et al, 1989), which has 16 chromosomes, and the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe (Clarke et al, 1986;Nakaseko, et al, 1986Nakaseko, et al, , 1987Niwa et al, 1986Niwa et al, , 1989Fishel et al, 1988;Chikashige et al, 1989;Hahnenberger et al, 1989Hahnenberger et al, , 1991Clarke and Baum, 1990;Matsumoto et al, 1990;Murakami et al, 1991), which has three. In budding yeast, a short stretch of DNA (-125 bp) containing a consensus sequences confer centromere function.…”

“…Most of the dh repeats in otr3 are shorter than those in otrl and otr2 . The boundary between dg and dh was defined by sequence comparisons (Nakaseko et al, 1987;Chikashige et al, 1989;Takahashi, Murakami, and Kinoshita, unpublished data).…”

Rice ( Oryza sativa ) centromeric regions consist of complex DNA

“…The third major type of eukaryotic centromeres, such as those from fission yeast (Schizosaccharomyces pombe) and D. melanogaster chromosomes, consists of complex DNA including various classes of repetitive DNA elements. The centromeric regions of S. pombe chromosomes contain several classes of repetitive DNA elements, including K, L, B, J, and M, and these elements are organized into patterns that are peculiar for each centromere (27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32). Unique sequences and repetitive elements specific to a particular centromere also were identified (33).…”