TY - JOUR
T1 - Flexibility of centromere and kinetochore structures
AU - Burrack, Laura S.
AU - Berman, Judith
N1 - Funding Information:
We apologize to authors whose work we did not have space to cite. We thank Berman laboratory members for helpful discussions and Simon Chan, Barbara Mellone and Beth A. Sullivan for very useful comments on the manuscript. This work is supported by a Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Fellowship F32 AI800742 and a Postdoctoral Fellowship, Grant #PF-12-108-01-CCG from the American Cancer Society to L.S.B. and by NIH/NIAID AI075096 to J.B.
PY - 2012/5
Y1 - 2012/5
N2 - Centromeres, and the kinetochores that assemble on them, are essential for accurate chromosome segregation. Diverse centromere organization patterns and kinetochore structures have evolved in eukaryotes ranging from yeast to humans. In addition, centromere DNA and kinetochore position can vary even within individual cells. This flexibility is manifested in several ways: centromere DNA sequences evolve rapidly, kinetochore positions shift in response to altered chromosome structure, and kinetochore complex numbers change in response to fluctuations in kinetochore protein levels. Despite their differences, all of these diverse structures promote efficient chromosome segregation. This robustness is inherent to chromosome segregation mechanisms and balances genome stability with adaptability. In this review, we explore the mechanisms and consequences of centromere and kinetochore flexibility as well as the benefits and limitations of different experimental model systems for their study.
AB - Centromeres, and the kinetochores that assemble on them, are essential for accurate chromosome segregation. Diverse centromere organization patterns and kinetochore structures have evolved in eukaryotes ranging from yeast to humans. In addition, centromere DNA and kinetochore position can vary even within individual cells. This flexibility is manifested in several ways: centromere DNA sequences evolve rapidly, kinetochore positions shift in response to altered chromosome structure, and kinetochore complex numbers change in response to fluctuations in kinetochore protein levels. Despite their differences, all of these diverse structures promote efficient chromosome segregation. This robustness is inherent to chromosome segregation mechanisms and balances genome stability with adaptability. In this review, we explore the mechanisms and consequences of centromere and kinetochore flexibility as well as the benefits and limitations of different experimental model systems for their study.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84860250839&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.tig.2012.02.003
DO - 10.1016/j.tig.2012.02.003
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AN - SCOPUS:84860250839
SN - 0168-9525
VL - 28
SP - 204
EP - 212
JO - Trends in Genetics
JF - Trends in Genetics
IS - 5
ER -