title: CENP-B is not critical for meiotic chromosome segregation in male mice.
abstract: Centromere protein B (CENP-B) is a constitutive protein that binds to a highly conserved 17bp motif located at most mammalian centromeres. To determine whether disruption of this gene affects chromosome segregation in male germ cells, we evaluated the frequencies of disomic and diploid sperm in CENP-B heterozygous and homozygous null mice using the mouse epididymal sperm aneuploidy (m-ESA) assay, a multicolor FISH method with probes for chromosomes X, Y and 8. The specificity and sensitivity of the m-ESA assay was demonstrated using Robertsonian (2.8) translocation heterozygotes as positive controls for sperm aneuploidy. Our results show that the frequencies of disomic and diploid sperm did not differ significantly between CENP-B heterozygous and homozygous null mice (P> or = 0.5) or from 129/Swiss isogenic mice (P> or = 0.5) and B6C3F1 mice (P> or = 0.2). These findings indicate that CENP-B does not have an essential role during chromosome segregation in male meiosis.
authors.affiliation: Biology and Biotechnology Research Program, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, P.O. Box 808 L-448, Livermore, CA 94550, USA.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tomascik-Cheeseman
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Marchetti
authors.forename: Xiu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lowe
authors.forename: Fay L
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Shamanski
authors.forename: Joginder
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nath
authors.forename: Roger A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Pedersen
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Wyrobek
mesh_terms: D000782:Aneuploidy; D000818:Animals; D001324:Autoantigens; D051936:Centromere Protein B; D002868:Chromosomal Proteins, Non-Histone / Q000502:physiology*; D020090:Chromosome Segregation; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D008297:Male; D008540:Meiosis; D051379:Mice
chemical_list: D001324:Autoantigens; C497927:Cenpb protein, mouse; D051936:Centromere Protein B; D002868:Chromosomal Proteins, Non-Histone; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins