Publication details
Insights into the Evolution of Centromere from Holocentric Luzula sylvatica (Juncaceae)
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| Year of publication | 2024 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
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| Description | The most prominent feature of the genomic landscape of plants is presumably the centromere. Monocentromere (the most common centromere architecture type, where the centromere is confined within a single region on the chromosome) is highly distinct from the rest of the genome due to its abundance of satellites and transposable elements, depletion of genes, and pattern of epigenetic marks such as CENH3, H3K4me3, H3K9me2, and DNA methylation. But what does this centromeric signature look like in holocentric organisms, which have an extended centromere architecture spanning the whole length of the chromosome? Based on chromosome-level genome assembly, ChIP-seq, and methyl-seq data; we describe the centromere organization of holocentric Luzula sylvatica from the rush family (Juncaceae). L. sylvatica centromere consists of variable-length discrete centromeric units associated with histone variant CENH3, often corresponding to two families of satellite repeats. However, the concurrence of centromeric units with satellite arrays is not absolute, since we identified arrays of the centromeric satellite families not associated with CENH3, but also centromeric units not associated with any satellite. These regions differ in their histone and DNA methylation enrichment pattern and presence of dyad symmetries, suggested to form non-B DNA structures promoting CENH3 loading. Additionally, we observed a rapid elimination of transposable elements from centromeric satellite arrays and an accumulation of LTR-TE Ty3-gypsy Athila in satellite-free centromeric units. These findings elucidate the role of satellites and transposable elements in centromere evolution and function. |
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