Download MendeleyModels for the architecture of the human inner kinetochore on centromeric alpha-satellite CENP-A nucleosome arrays.
Yu, C., Muir, K.W., Yang, J., Zhang, Z., McLaughlin, S.H., Barford, D.(2026) Nat Commun
- PubMed: 42120391 Search on PubMed
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-72856-0
- Primary Citation Related Structures:
28OP, 9TAW, 9TAX, 9TAY - PubMed Abstract:
Human kinetochores assemble onto centromeric DNA comprising repetitive arrays of the 171 bp α-satellite sequence. To understand the higher-order architecture of the inner kinetochore assembled onto α-satellite arrays, we show cryo-EM structures of CCAN with free DNA, and α-satellite repeat monomers and dimers with CENP-A nucleosomes. CCAN bound to free DNA and a monomeric CENP-A nucleosome engages 70 bp of DNA comprising 30 bp of an upstream α-satellite repeat. This upstream DNA interacts with the histone-fold domain subunits of the CENP-TWSX module in a manner resembling how nucleosomes wrap DNA gyres. A complex of CCAN assembled onto a dimeric α-satellite repeat with two CENP-A nucleosomes shows that CCAN can only be accommodated on the linker DNA by unwrapping DNA from both the CENP-TWSX module and the upstream nucleosome. We discuss the implications of these results for models of CCAN assembly on arrays of α-satellite chromatin containing CENP-A nucleosomes.
- MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge, UK.
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