title: Analysis of centromere function in Saccharomyces cerevisiae using synthetic centromere mutants.
abstract: We constructed Saccharomyces cerevisiae centromere DNA mutants by annealing and ligating synthetic oligonucleotides, a novel approach to centromere DNA mutagenesis that allowed us to change only one structural parameter at a time. Using this method, we confirmed that CDE I, II, and III alone are sufficient for centromere function and that A + T-rich sequences in CDE II play important roles in mitosis and meiosis. Analysis of mutants also showed that a bend in the centromere DNA could be important for proper mitotic and meiotic chromosome segregation. In addition we demonstrated that the wild-type orientation of the CDE III sequence, but not the CDE I sequence, is critical for wild-type mitotic segregation. Surprisingly, we found that one mutant centromere affected the segregation of plasmids and chromosomes differently. The implications of these results for centromere function and chromosome structure are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, University of Massachusetts, Amherst 01003.
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Fowlkes
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fitzgerald-Hayes
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D002503:Centromere / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D015825:Chromosomes, Fungal / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D016384:Consensus Sequence; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000502:physiology; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal