Current Biology
Volume 26, Issue 8, 25 April 2016, Pages 1110-1116
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Long-Term Retention of CENP-A Nucleosomes in Mammalian Oocytes Underpins Transgenerational Inheritance of Centromere Identity

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Highlights

  • Retention of CENP-A underpins centromere inheritance through the female germline

  • CENP-A persists at high levels >1 year after deposition at mouse oocyte centromeres

  • CENP-A assembled into chromatin before birth suffices for fertility many months later

  • CENP-A is a long-lived protein, essential to the function of a totipotent cell

Summary

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.

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