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Mapping of a human centromere onto the DNA by topoisomerase II cleavage
Author(s) -
Floridia Giovanna,
Zatterale Adriana,
Zuffardi Orsetta,
TylerSmith Chris
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
embo reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.584
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1469-3178
pISSN - 1469-221X
DOI - 10.1093/embo-reports/kvd110
Subject(s) - centromere , cleavage (geology) , biology , dna , topoisomerase , genetics , chromosome , microbiology and biotechnology , gene , paleontology , fracture (geology)
We have mapped the positions of topoisomerase II binding sites at the centromere of the human Y chromosome using etoposide‐mediated DNA cleavage. A single region of cleavage is seen at normal centromeres, spanning ∼50 kb within the centromeric alphoid array, but this pattern is abolished at two inactive centromeres. It therefore provides a marker for the position of the active centromere. Although the underlying centromeric DNA structure is variable, the position of the centromere measured in this way is fixed relative to the Yp edge of the array, and has retained the same position for >100 000 years.