Logsdon GA, Gambogi CW, Liskovykh MA, Barrey EJ, Larionov V, Miga KH, Heun P, Black BE. Human Artificial Chromosomes that Bypass Centromeric DNA.
Cell 2019;
178:624-639.e19. [PMID:
31348889 PMCID:
PMC6657561 DOI:
10.1016/j.cell.2019.06.006]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2018] [Revised: 04/07/2019] [Accepted: 06/03/2019] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Recent breakthroughs with synthetic budding yeast chromosomes expedite the creation of synthetic mammalian chromosomes and genomes. Mammals, unlike budding yeast, depend on the histone H3 variant, CENP-A, to epigenetically specify the location of the centromere-the locus essential for chromosome segregation. Prior human artificial chromosomes (HACs) required large arrays of centromeric α-satellite repeats harboring binding sites for the DNA sequence-specific binding protein, CENP-B. We report the development of a type of HAC that functions independently of these constraints. Formed by an initial CENP-A nucleosome seeding strategy, a construct lacking repetitive centromeric DNA formed several self-sufficient HACs that showed no uptake of genomic DNA. In contrast to traditional α-satellite HAC formation, the non-repetitive construct can form functional HACs without CENP-B or initial CENP-A nucleosome seeding, revealing distinct paths to centromere formation for different DNA sequence types. Our developments streamline the construction and characterization of HACs to facilitate mammalian synthetic genome efforts.
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