Chromosome

About: Chromosome is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 17538 publications have been published within this topic receiving 660077 citations. The topic is also known as: chromosomes & GO:0005694.

Telomeric repeat from T. thermophila cross hybridizes with human telomeres

Abstract: The ends (telomeres) of eukaryotic chromosomes must have special features to ensure their stability and complete replication. Studies in yeast, protozoa, slime moulds and flagellates show that telomeres are tandem repeats of simple sequences that have a G-rich and a C-rich strand. Mammalian telomeres have yet to be isolated and characterized, although a DNA fragment within 20 kilobases of the telomeres of the short arms of the human sex chromosomes has been isolated. Recently we showed that a chromosome from the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe could, in some cases, replicate as an autonomous mini-chromosome in mouse cells. By extrapolation from other systems, we reasoned that mouse telomeres could be added to the S. pombe chromosome ends in the mouse cells. On setting out to test this hypothesis we found to our surprise that the telomeric probe used (containing both the S. pombe and Tetrahymena thermophila repeats) hybridized to a series of discrete fragments in normal mouse DNA and DNA from a wide range of eukaryotes. We show here that the sequences hybridizing to this probe are located at the telomeres of most, if not all, human chromosomes and are similar to the Tetrahymena telomeric-repeat component of the probe.

Replication profile of Saccharomyces cerevisiae chromosome VI

Abstract: Background: An understanding of the replication programme at the genome level will require the identification and characterization of origins of replication through large, contiguous regions of DNA. As a step toward this goal, origin efficiencies and replication times were determined for 10 ARSs spanning most of the 270 kilobase (kb) chromosome VI of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Results: Chromosome VI shows a wide variation in the percentage of cell cycles in which different replication origins are utilized. Most of the origins are activated in only a fraction of cells, suggesting that the pattern of origin usage on chromosome VI varies greatly within the cell population. The replication times of fragments containing chromosome VI origins show a temporal pattern that has been recognized on other chromosomes—the telomeres replicate late in S phase, while the central region of the chromosome replicates early. Conclusions: As demonstrated here for chromosome VI, analysis of the direction of replication fork movement along a chromosome and determination of replication time by measuring a period of hemimethylation may provide an efficient means of surveying origin activity over large regions of the genome.

Allelic loss of sequences from the long arm of chromosome 10 and replication errors in endometrial cancers.

Abstract: Thirty-seven endometrial cancers were subjected to an allelotype analysis in an attempt to identify chromosomal regions that are lost in a significant portion of tumors and to identify tumors characterized by replication errors. Thirty-nine highly polymorphic microsatellite markers representing all chromosomal arms, excluding the X and the short arms of the acrocentrics, were examined. An average of 20 informative cases were evaluated for each marker. Genetic alterations were detected in 30 of the 37 tumors. Replication errors were identified in 8 tumor specimens. Loss of heterozygosity was observed for loci on all chromosomes examined with the exception of chromosomes 4 and 20. The two most frequent sites of loss were at the marker loci examined on 10q (40%) and 17p (29%). Six additional simple sequence repeat markers from 10q were genotyped in an effort to refine the region of 10q loss. The chromosome 10 markers used in these studies were physically mapped with the use of a panel of somatic hybrids that retain defined portions of chromosome 10. The observed patterns of loss of sequences on 10q suggest a role for a tumor suppressor gene in the 10q23-26 region in the development or progression of endometrial cancers.

Centromeric DNA sequences in the pathogenic yeast Candida albicans are all different and unique

Abstract: In an approach to clone and characterize centromeric DNA sequences of Candida albicans by chromatin immunoprecipitation, we have used antibodies directed against an evolutionarily conserved histone H3-like protein, CaCse4p (CENP-A homolog). Sequence analysis of clones obtained by this procedure reveals that only eight relatively small regions (≈3 kb each) of the Can. albicans genome are selectively enriched. These CaCse4-bound sequences are located within 4- to 18-kb regions lacking ORFs and occur once in each of the eight chromosomes of Can. albicans. Binding of another evolutionarily conserved kinetochore protein, CaMif2p (CENP-C homolog), colocalizes with CaCse4p. Deletion of the CaCse4p-binding region of chromosome 7 results in a high rate of loss of the altered chromosome, confirming that CaCse4p, a centromeric histone in the CENP-A family, indeed identifies the functional centromeric DNA of Can. albicans. The CaCse4p-rich regions not only lack conserved DNA motifs of point ( 40 kb) centromeres, but also each chromosome of Can. albicans contains a different and unique CaCse4p-rich centromeric DNA sequence, a centromeric property previously unobserved in other organisms.