title: CENP-B box, a nucleotide motif involved in centromere formation, occurs in a New World monkey.
abstract: Centromere protein B (CENP-B) is one of the major proteins involved in centromere formation, binding to centromeric repetitive DNA by recognizing a 17 bp motif called the CENP-B box. Hominids (humans and great apes) carry large numbers of CENP-B boxes in alpha satellite DNA (AS, the major centromeric repetitive DNA of simian primates). Only negative results have been reported regarding the presence of the CENP-B box in other primate taxa. Consequently, it is widely believed that the CENP-B box is confined, within primates, to the hominids. We report here that the common marmoset, a New World monkey, contains an abundance of CENP-B boxes in its AS. First, in a long contig sequence we constructed and analysed, we identified the motif in 17 of the 38 alpha satellite repeat units. We then sequenced terminal regions of additional clones and found the motif in many of them. Immunostaining of marmoset cells demonstrated that CENP-B binds to DNA in the centromeric regions of chromosomes. Therefore, functional CENP-B boxes are not confined to hominids. Our results indicate that the efficiency of identification of the CENP-B box may depend largely on the sequencing methods used, and that the CENP-B box in centromeric repetitive DNA may be more common than researchers previously thought.
authors.affiliation: Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama 484-8506, Japan Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand.
authors.forename: Aorarat
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7787-2059
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Suntronpong
authors.affiliation: Department of Frontier Research, Kazusa DNA Research Institute, Kisarazu 292-0818, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuto
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7690-1249
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kugou
authors.affiliation: Department of Frontier Research, Kazusa DNA Research Institute, Kisarazu 292-0818, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6960-4417
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Masumoto
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand.
authors.forename: Kornsorn
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5985-7258
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Srikulnath
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Bioscience, Nagahama Institute of Bio-Science and Technology, Nagahama 526-0829, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuhiko
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8437-4744
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ohshima
authors.affiliation: Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama 484-8506, Japan.
authors.forename: Hirohisa
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0951-1950
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hirai
authors.affiliation: Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama 484-8506, Japan koga.akihiko.5n@kyoto-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Akihiko
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7921-7496
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Koga
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002144:Callithrix / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D002503:Centromere / Q000378:metabolism*; D051936:Centromere Protein B / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D059372:Nucleotide Motifs
chemical_list: D051936:Centromere Protein B
keywords: alpha satellite DNA; centromeric repetitive DNA; marmoset; molecular evolution; primates