The Role of Centromeres in Genome Stability
A special issue of Genes (ISSN 2073-4425). This special issue belongs to the section "Human Genomics and Genetic Diseases".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2020) | Viewed by 22466
Special Issue Editor
Interests: DNA damage repair; genome stability; repetitive DNA; human chromosomes
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Centromeres are fascinating chromosomal loci required for the faithful transmission of genetic information at each cellular generation. In most plants and animals, centromeres are made up of highly repetitive sequences, are epigenetically specified by a specialized chromatin status, including the presence of a centromere-specific H3 histone variant, and are essential to support the formation of the kinetochore and bind the spindle microtubules in mitosis to enable chromosome segregation.
Contrary to initial thoughts, recent evidence has pointed at important DNA-based transactions happening at centromeres. While gene-poor, the repeats are not silent. Long non-coding RNA transcripts originated from centromeres bear unexpected roles in stabilizing proteins binding to the region and promote kinetochore function. Similarly, centromere repeats are not as stable as previously thought. Recent evidence indicates that centromere alpha-satellite DNA suffers from instability due to recombination, especially enhanced in the context of cancer and cellular senescence. These and other novel paradigms in the centromere field raise interesting questions on how transcription, repair, and other processes impact centromere stability and function and how the deterioration of centromere repeats integrity may be implicated in human health and disease.
In this Special Issue of Genes, I want to extend an invitation to reviews as well as original research articles on the current state of affair in centromere genomics, transcriptomics and molecular mechanisms operating at the centromere repeats. I am especially interested in contributions that utilize novel experimental methods, including computational approaches, that bring forward alternative hypotheses to the previously described paradoxes in centromere biology, highlighting centromere association with genome and chromosome stability, and/or contributing to further our understanding of centromeres’ role in disease. I will, however, consider any manuscript that advances the understanding of these “dark” regions of our genome.
Dr. Simona Giunta
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- centromere
- repetitive DNA
- chromosomes
- epigenetic
- transcription
- genome stability
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