Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 21, 2026

In Vitro Characterization of Histone Chaperones using Analytical, Pull-Down and Chaperoning Assays
Published on: December 29, 2021
Biochemical and Structural Analysis of Kinetochore Histone-Fold Complexes
Tatsuya Nishino1,2, Tatsuo Fukagawa3,4
1Department of Molecular Genetics, National Institute of Genetics and Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI), 1111 Yata, Mishima, Shizuoka, 411-8540, Japan.
Abstract:
The kinetochore connects chromosomes to microtubules during mitosis and therefore plays an essential role in faithful chromosome segregation. It is built at the centromeric region of the chromosome and is comprised of many protein complexes. CENP-S, -T, -W, and -X are kinetochore components with histone-folds. These proteins play important roles in establishment of kinetochore chromatin. Similar to canonical histones, these kinetochore histone-fold proteins form heteromeric complexes (CENP-S/CENP-X complex and CENP-T/CENP-W complex) and bind DNA in sequence independent manner. In addition, they form a CENP-T-W-S-X heterotetrameric complex and bind DNA in a manner that is different from both CENP-S-X and CENP-T-W. To understand how kinetochores form and function it is necessary to characterize the components in detail. Here, we describe our approaches in purification and characterization of the kinetochore histone-fold complexes.
Related Concept Videos
The Nucleosome Core Particle
Nucleosomes, paradoxically, perform two opposite functions simultaneously. On the one hand, their primary aim is to protect the delicate DNA strands from physical damage and help achieve a higher compaction ratio. On the other hand, they must allow polymerase enzymes to access histone-bound DNA during...
The Nucleosome Core Particle
The paradox
Nucleosomes, paradoxically, perform two opposite functions simultaneously. On the one hand, their main responsibility is to protect the delicate DNA strands from physical damage and help achieve a higher compaction ratio. While on the other hand, they must allow polymerase enzymes to access DNA...
Histone Modification
Acetylation
The enzyme histone acetyltransferase adds acetyl group to the histones. Another enzyme, histone...
Attachment of Sister Chromatids
Histone Variants at the Centromere
Nucleosome Remodeling
Nucleosome remodeling complex
Eukaryotic cells have specialized enzymes called ATP-dependent nucleosome remodeling enzymes. These enzymes...

