Skip to main content
bioRxiv
  • Home
  • About
  • Submit
  • ALERTS / RSS
Advanced Search
New Results

Islands of retroelements are the major components of Drosophila centromeres

View ORCID ProfileChing-Ho Chang, Ankita Chavan, Jason Palladino, Xiaolu Wei, Nuno M. C. Martins, Bryce Santinello, Chin-Chi Chen, Jelena Erceg, View ORCID ProfileBrian J. Beliveau, Chao-Ting Wu, View ORCID ProfileAmanda M. Larracuente, View ORCID ProfileBarbara G. Mellone
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/537357
Ching-Ho Chang
1Department of Biology, University of Rochester; Rochester, NY 14627
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Ching-Ho Chang
Ankita Chavan
2Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Connecticut; Storrs, CT 06269
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Jason Palladino
2Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Connecticut; Storrs, CT 06269
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Xiaolu Wei
3Department of Biomedical Genetics, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY 14642
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Nuno M. C. Martins
4Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA 02115
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Bryce Santinello
2Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Connecticut; Storrs, CT 06269
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Chin-Chi Chen
2Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Connecticut; Storrs, CT 06269
5Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD, 21287
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Jelena Erceg
4Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA 02115
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Brian J. Beliveau
6Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115
7Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA 02115
8Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington; Seattle, WA 98195
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Brian J. Beliveau
Chao-Ting Wu
4Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA 02115
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Amanda M. Larracuente
1Department of Biology, University of Rochester; Rochester, NY 14627
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Amanda M. Larracuente
  • For correspondence: barbara.mellone@uconn.edu alarracu@bio.rochester.edu
Barbara G. Mellone
2Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Connecticut; Storrs, CT 06269
9Institute for Systems Genomics, University of Connecticut; Storrs, CT 06269
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Barbara G. Mellone
  • For correspondence: barbara.mellone@uconn.edu alarracu@bio.rochester.edu
  • Abstract
  • Full Text
  • Info/History
  • Metrics
  • Supplementary material
  • Preview PDF
Loading

Abstract

Centromeres are essential chromosomal regions that mediate kinetochore assembly and spindle attachments during cell division. Despite their functional conservation, centromeres are amongst the most rapidly evolving genomic regions and can shape karyotype evolution and speciation across taxa. Although significant progress has been made in identifying centromere-associated proteins, the highly repetitive centromeres of metazoans have been refractory to DNA sequencing and assembly, leaving large gaps in our understanding of their functional organization and evolution. Here, we identify the sequence composition and organization of the centromeres of Drosophila melanogaster by combining long-read sequencing, chromatin immunoprecipitation for the centromeric histone CENP-A, and high-resolution chromatin fiber imaging. Contrary to previous models that heralded satellite repeats as the major functional components, we demonstrate that functional centromeres form on islands of complex DNA sequences enriched in retroelements that are flanked by large arrays of satellite repeats. Each centromere displays distinct size and arrangement of its DNA elements but is similar in composition overall. We discover that a specific retroelement, G2/Jockey-3, is the most highly enriched sequence in CENP-A chromatin and is the only element shared among all centromeres. G2/Jockey-3 is also associated with CENP-A in the sister species Drosophila simulans, revealing an unexpected conservation despite the reported turnover of centromeric satellite DNA. Our work reveals the DNA sequence identity of the active centromeres of a premier model organism and implicates retroelements as conserved features of centromeric DNA.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
Back to top
PreviousNext
Posted February 01, 2019.
Download PDF

Supplementary Material

Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about bioRxiv.

NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Islands of retroelements are the major components of Drosophila centromeres
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from bioRxiv
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the bioRxiv website.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Share
Islands of retroelements are the major components of Drosophila centromeres
Ching-Ho Chang, Ankita Chavan, Jason Palladino, Xiaolu Wei, Nuno M. C. Martins, Bryce Santinello, Chin-Chi Chen, Jelena Erceg, Brian J. Beliveau, Chao-Ting Wu, Amanda M. Larracuente, Barbara G. Mellone
bioRxiv 537357; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/537357
Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo LinkedIn logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
Islands of retroelements are the major components of Drosophila centromeres
Ching-Ho Chang, Ankita Chavan, Jason Palladino, Xiaolu Wei, Nuno M. C. Martins, Bryce Santinello, Chin-Chi Chen, Jelena Erceg, Brian J. Beliveau, Chao-Ting Wu, Amanda M. Larracuente, Barbara G. Mellone
bioRxiv 537357; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/537357

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Subject Area

  • Genomics
Subject Areas
All Articles
  • Animal Behavior and Cognition (4684)
  • Biochemistry (10361)
  • Bioengineering (7675)
  • Bioinformatics (26337)
  • Biophysics (13529)
  • Cancer Biology (10686)
  • Cell Biology (15440)
  • Clinical Trials (138)
  • Developmental Biology (8497)
  • Ecology (12821)
  • Epidemiology (2067)
  • Evolutionary Biology (16862)
  • Genetics (11399)
  • Genomics (15478)
  • Immunology (10617)
  • Microbiology (25219)
  • Molecular Biology (10223)
  • Neuroscience (54473)
  • Paleontology (401)
  • Pathology (1668)
  • Pharmacology and Toxicology (2897)
  • Physiology (4342)
  • Plant Biology (9247)
  • Scientific Communication and Education (1586)
  • Synthetic Biology (2558)
  • Systems Biology (6781)
  • Zoology (1466)