This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Keith, K. C.
Right arrow Articles by Fitzgerald-Hayes, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Keith, K. C.
Right arrow Articles by Fitzgerald-Hayes, M.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Molecular and Cellular Biology, September 1999, p. 6130-6139, Vol. 19, No. 9
0270-7306/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Analysis of Primary Structural Determinants That Distinguish the Centromere-Specific Function of Histone Variant Cse4p from Histone H3

Kevin C. Keith,1,dagger Richard E. Baker,2 Yinhuai Chen,1 Kendra Harris,2 Sam Stoler,1 and Molly Fitzgerald-Hayes1,*

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Program in Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003,1 and Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts 016552

Received 9 April 1999/Accepted 25 May 1999

Cse4p is a variant of histone H3 that has an essential role in chromosome segregation and centromere chromatin structure in budding yeast. Cse4p has a unique 135-amino-acid N terminus and a C-terminal histone-fold domain that is more than 60% identical to histone H3 and the mammalian centromere protein CENP-A. Cse4p and CENP-A have biochemical properties similar to H3 and probably replace H3 in centromere-specific nucleosomes in yeasts and mammals, respectively. In order to identify regions of Cse4p that distinguish it from H3 and confer centromere function, a systematic site-directed mutational analysis was performed. Nested deletions of the Cse4p N terminus showed that this region of the protein contains at least one essential domain. The C-terminal histone-fold domain of Cse4p was analyzed by changing Cse4p amino acids that differ between Cse4p and H3 to the analogous H3 residues. Extensive substitution of contiguous Cse4p residues with H3 counterparts resulted in cell lethality. However, all large lethal substitution alleles could be subdivided into smaller viable alleles, many of which caused elevated rates of mitotic chromosome loss. The results indicate that residues critical for wild-type Cse4p function and high-fidelity chromosome transmission are distributed across the entire histone-fold domain. Our findings are discussed in the context of the known structure of H3 within the nucleosome and compared with previous results reported for CENP-A.


* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Lederle Graduate Research Ctr., Box 34505, Amherst, MA 01003. Phone: (413) 545-0235. Fax: (413) 545-3291. E-mail: mollyfh{at}biochem.umass.edu.

dagger Present address: University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637.


Molecular and Cellular Biology, September 1999, p. 6130-6139, Vol. 19, No. 9
0270-7306/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Au, W.-C., Crisp, M. J., DeLuca, S. Z., Rando, O. J., Basrai, M. A. (2008). Altered Dosage and Mislocalization of Histone H3 and Cse4p Lead to Chromosome Loss in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Genetics 179: 263-275 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Dalal, Y., Furuyama, T., Vermaak, D., Henikoff, S. (2007). Inaugural Article: Structure, dynamics, and evolution of centromeric nucleosomes. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 104: 15974-15981 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Stoler, S., Rogers, K., Weitze, S., Morey, L., Fitzgerald-Hayes, M., Baker, R. E. (2007). Scm3, an essential Saccharomyces cerevisiae centromere protein required for G2/M progression and Cse4 localization. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 104: 10571-10576 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Baker, R. E., Rogers, K. (2006). Phylogenetic Analysis of Fungal Centromere H3 Proteins. Genetics 174: 1481-1492 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Hajra, S., Ghosh, S. K., Jayaram, M. (2006). The centromere-specific histone variant Cse4p (CENP-A) is essential for functional chromatin architecture at the yeast 2-{micro}m circle partitioning locus and promotes equal plasmid segregation. JCB 174: 779-790 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Collins, K. A., Castillo, A. R., Tatsutani, S. Y., Biggins, S. (2005). De Novo Kinetochore Assembly Requires the Centromeric Histone H3 Variant. Mol. Biol. Cell 16: 5649-5660 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Kamakaka, R. T., Biggins, S. (2005). Histone variants: deviants?. Genes Dev. 19: 295-316 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Morey, L., Barnes, K., Chen, Y., Fitzgerald-Hayes, M., Baker, R. E. (2004). The Histone Fold Domain of Cse4 Is Sufficient for CEN Targeting and Propagation of Active Centromeres in Budding Yeast. Eukaryot Cell 3: 1533-1543 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Wieland, G., Orthaus, S., Ohndorf, S., Diekmann, S., Hemmerich, P. (2004). Functional Complementation of Human Centromere Protein A (CENP-A) by Cse4p from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Mol. Cell. Biol. 24: 6620-6630 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Vermaak, D., Hayden, H. S., Henikoff, S. (2002). Centromere Targeting Element within the Histone Fold Domain of Cid. Mol. Cell. Biol. 22: 7553-7561 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Sanyal, K., Carbon, J. (2002). The CENP-A homolog CaCse4p in the pathogenic yeast Candida albicans is a centromere protein essential for chromosome transmission. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 99: 12969-12974 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Marc, F., Sandman, K., Lurz, R., Reeve, J. N. (2002). Archaeal Histone Tetramerization Determines DNA Affinity and the Direction of DNA Supercoiling. J. Biol. Chem. 277: 30879-30886 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Ando, S., Yang, H., Nozaki, N., Okazaki, T., Yoda, K. (2002). CENP-A, -B, and -C Chromatin Complex That Contains the I-Type {alpha}-Satellite Array Constitutes the Prekinetochore in HeLa Cells. Mol. Cell. Biol. 22: 2229-2241 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Measday, V., Hailey, D. W., Pot, I., Givan, S. A., Hyland, K. M., Cagney, G., Fields, S., Davis, T. N., Hieter, P. (2002). Ctf3p, the Mis6 budding yeast homolog, interacts with Mcm22p and Mcm16p at the yeast outer kinetochore. Genes Dev. 16: 101-113 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Henikoff, S., Ahmad, K., Malik, H. S. (2001). The Centromere Paradox: Stable Inheritance with Rapidly Evolving DNA. Science 293: 1098-1102 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Malik, H. S., Henikoff, S. (2001). Adaptive Evolution of Cid, a Centromere-Specific Histone in Drosophila. Genetics 157: 1293-1298 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Van Hooser, A. A., Ouspenski, I. I., Gregson, H. C., Starr, D. A., Yen, T. J., Goldberg, M. L., Yokomori, K., Earnshaw, W. C., Sullivan, K. F., Brinkley, B. R. (2001). Specification of kinetochore-forming chromatin by the histone H3 variant CENP-A. J. Cell Sci. 114: 3529-3542 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Keith, K. C., Fitzgerald-Hayes, M. (2000). CSE4 Genetically Interacts With the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Centromere DNA Elements CDE I and CDE II but Not CDE III: Implications for the Path of the Centromere DNA Around a Cse4p Variant Nucleosome. Genetics 156: 973-981 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Chen, Y., Baker, R. E., Keith, K. C., Harris, K., Stoler, S., Fitzgerald-Hayes, M. (2000). The N Terminus of the Centromere H3-Like Protein Cse4p Performs an Essential Function Distinct from That of the Histone Fold Domain. Mol. Cell. Biol. 20: 7037-7048 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Glowczewski, L., Yang, P., Kalashnikova, T., Santisteban, M. S., Smith, M. M. (2000). Histone-Histone Interactions and Centromere Function. Mol. Cell. Biol. 20: 5700-5711 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Yoda, K., Ando, S., Morishita, S., Houmura, K., Hashimoto, K., Takeyasu, K., Okazaki, T. (2000). Human centromere protein A (CENP-A) can replace histone H3 in nucleosome reconstitution in vitro. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 97: 7266-7271 [Abstract] [Full Text]