Separation vs. replication of inactive and active centromeres in neoplastic cells

The inactive centromeres in neoplastic and transformed cells exhibit premature separation at prophase or pro-metaphase. The factor(s) that control this behavior are not known. Using a human breast cancer cell line, MDA 435, and a transformed mouse cell line (L929), we studied the relationship between the sequence of centromere separation and the replication of centromeric region associated with the active and inactive centromeres. Whereas the inactive centromeres in L929 cells replicate their pericentric heterochromatin earlier than that associated with the active centromeres, those in MDA 435 cells exhibited no strong correlation between early separation and replication. A comparison between the intragenomic patterns of separation with replication of only active centromeres showed that the former is not dependent upon the latter in either L929 cells or MDA 435 cells. These studies indicate that, whereas inactive centromeres in neoplastic cells separate prematurely in different species, there is no uniformity in the control for replication nor does the timing of separation depend upon the timing of replication of the centric region.