The centromere: epigenetic control of chromosome segregation during mitosis

A fundamental challenge for the survival of all organisms is maintaining the integrity of the genome in all cells. Cells must therefore segregate their replicated genome equally during each cell division. Eukaryotic organisms package their genome into a number of physically distinct chromosomes, which replicate during S phase and condense during prophase of mitosis to form paired sister chromatids. During mitosis, cells form a physical connection between each sister chromatid and microtubules of the mitotic spindle, which segregate one copy of each chromatid to each new daughter cell. The centromere is the DNA locus on each chromosome that creates the site of this connection. In this review, we present a brief history of centromere research and discuss our current knowledge of centromere establishment, maintenance, composition, structure, and function in mitosis.