RT Journal
A1 Shang, Wei-Hao
A1 Hori, Tetsuya
A1 Toyoda, Atsushi
A1 Kato, Jun
A1 Popendorf, Kris
A1 Sakakibara, Yasubumi
A1 Fujiyama, Asao
A1 Fukagawa, Tatsuo
T1 Chickens possess centromeres with both extended tandem repeats and short non-tandem-repetitive sequences
JF Genome Research 
JO Genome Research 
YR 2010 
FD September 01 
VO 20 
IS 9 
SP 1219 
OP 1228 
DO 10.1101/gr.106245.110 
UL http://genome.cshlp.org/content/20/9/1219.abstract 
AB The centromere is essential for faithful chromosome segregation by providing the site for kinetochore assembly. Although the role of the centromere is conserved throughout evolution, the DNA sequences associated with centromere regions are highly divergent among species and it remains to be determined how centromere DNA directs kinetochore formation. Despite the active use of chicken DT40 cells in studies of chromosome segregation, the sequence of the chicken centromere was unclear. Here, we performed a comprehensive analysis of chicken centromere DNA which revealed unique features of chicken centromeres compared with previously studied vertebrates. Centromere DNA sequences from the chicken macrochromosomes, with the exception of chromosome 5, contain chromosome-specific homogenous tandem repetitive arrays that span several hundred kilobases. In contrast, the centromeres of chromosomes 5, 27, and Z do not contain tandem repetitive sequences and span non-tandem-repetitive sequences of only ∼30 kb. To test the function of these centromere sequences, we conditionally removed the centromere from the Z chromosome using genetic engineering and have shown that that the non-tandem-repeat sequence of chromosome Z is a functional centromere.