Analysis of centromere identity and structure in human cells

Division Of Basic Sciences - Nci

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Abstract

We have analyzed human centromeric chromatin containing CENPA from HeLa cells in culture using Chromatin IP followed by atomic force microscopy measurements and mass spectrophotometry. Thus far, we have identified that the CENPA chromatin structure is uniquely organized and appears to have fundamentally different characteristics from the rest of the chromatin which packages the genome. We have also purified CENPA histone from different points of the cell cycle that we plan to analyze by mass spectrometry to understand how epigenetic modifications of this protein may help restrict it to the centromere, and regulate it is only available at a particular point and location in the cell cycle