CENP-C reshapes and stabilizes CENP-A nucleosomes at the centromere

Abstract

Building stable centromeres Each of our chromosomes has a single centromere, seen as a constriction during cell division, which is required for accurate chromosome segregation to daughter cells. Falk et al. show that the special histone protein known as CENP-A, which forms part of the nucleosomes at centromeres, makes the chromatin at these constrictions very stable and long-lived. This stability is conferred by a protein-binding partner, CENP-C, recruited to the centromere by the CENP-A histone. Binding of CENP-C to CENP-A–containing nucleosomes alters the behavior of the macromolecular centromere complex to help it maintain its identity Science , this issue p. 699