TY - JOUR
T1 - The rapidly evolving field of plant centromeres
AU - Hall, Anne E.
AU - Keith, Kevin C.
AU - Hall, Sarah E.
AU - Copenhaver, Gregory P.
AU - Preuss, Daphne
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank members of the Preuss laboratory for helpful suggestions and critical reading of the manuscript. This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation (grant to AEH and DP), a National Institute of Health National Research Service Award (to KCK), and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
PY - 2004/4
Y1 - 2004/4
N2 - Meiotic and mitotic chromosome segregation are highly conserved in eukaryotic organisms, yet centromeres - the chromosomal sites that mediate segregation - evolve extremely rapidly. Plant centromeres have DNA elements that are shared across species, yet they diverge rapidly through large- and small-scale changes. Over evolutionary time-scales, centromeres migrate to non-centromeric regions and, in plants, heterochromatic knobs can acquire centromere activity. Discerning the functional significance of these changes will require comparative analyses of closely related species. Combined with functional assays, continued efforts in plant genomics will uncover key DNA elements that allow centromeres to retain their role in chromosome segregation while allowing rapid evolution.
AB - Meiotic and mitotic chromosome segregation are highly conserved in eukaryotic organisms, yet centromeres - the chromosomal sites that mediate segregation - evolve extremely rapidly. Plant centromeres have DNA elements that are shared across species, yet they diverge rapidly through large- and small-scale changes. Over evolutionary time-scales, centromeres migrate to non-centromeric regions and, in plants, heterochromatic knobs can acquire centromere activity. Discerning the functional significance of these changes will require comparative analyses of closely related species. Combined with functional assays, continued efforts in plant genomics will uncover key DNA elements that allow centromeres to retain their role in chromosome segregation while allowing rapid evolution.
KW - BAC
KW - Bacterial artificial chromosome
KW - CEN4
KW - CENP-A
KW - CRM
KW - CRR
KW - Centromere protein-A
KW - Centromere-specific retrotransposon of maize
KW - Centromere-specific retrotransposon of rice
KW - Centromere4
KW - FISH
KW - Fluorescent in situ hybridization
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=1542351285&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=1542351285&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.pbi.2004.01.008
DO - 10.1016/j.pbi.2004.01.008
M3 - Review article
C2 - 15003208
AN - SCOPUS:1542351285
SN - 1369-5266
VL - 7
SP - 108
EP - 114
JO - Current Opinion in Plant Biology
JF - Current Opinion in Plant Biology
IS - 2
ER -