RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 A conserved function for pericentromeric satellite DNA
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 245589
DO 10.1101/245589
A1 Madhav Jagannathan
A1 Ryan Cummings
A1 Yukiko M. Yamashita
YR 2018
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/01/09/245589.abstract
AB A universal and unquestioned characteristic of eukaryotic cells is that the genome is divided into multiple chromosomes and encapsulated in a single nucleus. However, the underlying mechanism to ensure such a configuration is unknown. Here we provide evidence that pericentromeric satellite DNA, which is often regarded as junk, is a critical constituent of the chromosome, allowing the packaging of all chromosomes into a single nucleus. We show that the multi AT-hook satellite DNA binding proteins, D. melanogaster D1 and mouse HMGA1, play an evolutionarily conserved role in bundling pericentromeric satellite DNA from heterologous chromosomes into ‘chromocenters’, a cytological association of pericentromeric heterochromatin. Defective chromocenter formation leads to micronuclei formation due to budding off of interphase nucleus and cell death. We propose that chromocenter and satellite DNA serves a fundamental role to achieve the universal characteristic of eukaryotic cells: full complement of the genome within a single nucleus.