Elucidation of a mechanism to regulate centromere at one region on each chromosome

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K06958
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Molecular biology
• Research Institution: Kyushu University
• Principal Investigator: Sato Hiroshi 九州大学, 歯学研究院, 助教 (00421313)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: セントロメア / 染色体 / ヒストン / ヘテロクロマチン

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Centromere formation is epigenetically regulated so that one chromosome has one centromere, but the molecular mechanisms to limit the centromeres remain unclear. We attempted to understand the mechanisms by using fission yeast harboring fused two chromosomes. The analysis of chromatin revealed that histone H3 lysine 9 acetylation and histone H4 lysine 20 methylation that thought to induce the centromeric chromatin formation were suppressed by heterochromatin on the inactivated centromere. Furthermore, heterochromatin partially rescues defects caused by overexpression of the genes that mediate the loading of CENP-A, centromere specific histone H3 variant, into chromatin in the fission yeast harboring fused chromosome. These results suggested that the heterochromatin contribute to the restriction of excess centromeres formed on a chromosome.

Free Research Field

分子生物学