Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 11, 2026

Immunofluorescence Analysis of Endogenous and Exogenous Centromere-kinetochore Proteins
Published on: March 3, 2016
Mislocalization of the Drosophila centromere-specific histone CID promotes formation of functional ectopic
Patrick Heun1, Sylvia Erhardt, Michael D Blower
1Department of Genome Biology, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, One Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
Abstract:
The centromere-specific histone variant CENP-A (CID in Drosophila) is a structural and functional foundation for kinetochore formation and chromosome segregation. Here, we show that overexpressed CID is mislocalized into normally noncentromeric regions in Drosophila tissue culture cells and animals. Analysis of mitoses in living and fixed cells reveals that mitotic delays, anaphase bridges, chromosome fragmentation, and cell and organismal lethality are all direct consequences of CID mislocalization. In addition, proteins that are normally restricted to endogenous kinetochores assemble at a subset of ectopic CID incorporation regions. The presence of microtubule motors and binding proteins, spindle attachments, and aberrant chromosome morphologies demonstrate that these ectopic kinetochores are functional. We conclude that CID mislocalization promotes formation of ectopic centromeres and multicentric chromosomes, which causes chromosome missegregation, aneuploidy, and growth defects. Thus, CENP-A mislocalization is one possible mechanism for genome instability during cancer progression, as well as centromere plasticity during evolution.
Related Concept Videos
Attachment of Sister Chromatids
Histone Variants at the Centromere
Centrosome Duplication
To ensure that each daughter cell receives a centrosome after cell division, centrosome duplication...
Meiosis II
The timing and cell division patterns of meiosis differ between males and females. In male meiosis, the centrosomes are part of the formation of the meiotic spindle. However, in oocytes, including that of humans, Drosophila,...
Forces Acting on Chromosomes
Microtubules and motor proteins exert two types of forces on...
Centrioles and Centrosomes
Near the end of the prophase, also called late prophase or "prometaphase,"...

