engleski

Tandem repeat-containing mobile elements at the centromeres of the pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas

Bivalves are a large class of marine and freshwater mollusks of high importance in marine ecosystems and aquaculture. In accordance with their significant ecological and commercial value, the interest in genome research on these organisms is growing steadily, with an increasing number of genomic projects being performed (13 currently available in NCBI GenBank database). The centromere is a domain essential for chromosomal segregation in cell divisions and functional centromeres are marked by centromere-specific histone H3 proteins (CenH3). We have identified the CenH3 protein of the pacific oyster C. gigas, generated CenH3 antibody, and employed it in chromatin immunoprecipitation experiment (ChIP) in order to identify DNA sequences that constitute functional centromeres of this species. Next generation sequencing and in silico analyses have revealed that sequences showing similarity to different types of Helitron mobile elements can be found at the centromeres. Such elements are known to harbor tandemly repeated units in their central parts, thus resembling satellite DNAs. Most prominent candidates for centromeric DNA sequences have been localized on mitotic chromosomes of this species, and combined immunofluorescence/fluorescence in situ hybridization (IF-FISH) assay was performed on gonadal cells in different stages of spermatogenesis in order to confirm co-localization of ChIP-obtained DNA sequences with CenH3 protein.

Crassostrea gigas ; bivalves ; centromere ; CenH3 ; satellite DNA, mobile elements

nije evidentirano