Journal
PLANT CELL
Volume 21, Issue 7, Pages 1929-1939Publisher
AMER SOC PLANT BIOLOGISTS
DOI: 10.1105/tpc.109.066662
Keywords
-
Funding
- National Science Foundation [DBI 0421671]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Stable maize (Zea mays) chromosomes were recovered from an unstable dicentric containing large and small versions of the B chromosome centromere. In the stable chromosome, the smaller centromere had become inactivated. This inactive centromere can be inherited from one generation to the next attached to the active version and loses all known cytological and molecular properties of active centromeres. When separated from the active centromere by intrachromosomal recombination, the inactive centromere can be reactivated. The reactivated centromere regains the molecular attributes of activity in anaphase I of meiosis. When two copies of the dicentric chromosome with one active and one inactive centromere are present, homologous chromosome pairing reduces the frequency of intrachromosomal recombination and thus decreases, but does not eliminate, the reactivation of inactive centromeres. These findings indicate an epigenetic component to centromere specification in that centromere inactivation can be directed by joining two centromeres in opposition. These findings also indicate a structural aspect to centromere specification revealed by the gain of activity at the site of the previously inactive sequences.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available