| First Author | Smoak EM | Year | 2016 |
| Journal | Curr Biol | Volume | 26 |
| Issue | 8 | Pages | 1110-6 |
| PubMed ID | 27040782 | Mgi Jnum | J:252668 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:5927405 | Doi | 10.1016/j.cub.2016.02.061 |
| Citation | Smoak EM, et al. (2016) Long-Term Retention of CENP-A Nucleosomes in Mammalian Oocytes Underpins Transgenerational Inheritance of Centromere Identity. Curr Biol 26(8):1110-6 |
| abstractText | Centromeres control genetic inheritance by directing chromosome segregation but are not genetically encoded themselves. Rather, centromeres are defined by nucleosomes containing CENP-A, a histone H3 variant [1]. In cycling somatic cells, centromere identity is maintained by an established cell-cycle-coupled CENP-A chromatin assembly pathway, but how centromeres are inherited through the mammalian female germline is unclear because of the long (months to decades) prophase I arrest. Here we show that mouse oocytes retain the pool of CENP-A nucleosomes assembled before birth, and that this pool is sufficient for centromere function, fertility, and genome transmission to embryos. Indeed, oocytes lack any measurable CENP-A nucleosome assembly through the entire fertile lifespan of the female (>1 year). Thus, the remarkable stability of CENP-A nucleosomes confers transgenerational centromere identity in mammals. |
