ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2007
Centromeres were derived from telomeres during the evolution of the eukaryotic chromosome.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2007. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
38 citing papers in PubMed, 86 citations in OpenAlex.
- Rapid centromere turnover and the adaptive radiation of lemurs.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Comparative Analysis of Satellite DNA inPlants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- RepeatOBserver: Tandem Repeat Visualisation and Putative Centromere Detection.Molecular ecology resources · 2025Article
- Distinct evolutionary trajectories of subgenomic centromeres in polyploid wheat.Genome biology · 2025Article
- Diverse Genome Structures among Eukaryotes May Have Arisen in Response to Genetic Conflict.Genome biology and evolution · 2024Review
- Precise integration of large DNA sequences in plant genomes using PrimeRoot editors.Nature biotechnology · 2024Article
- Comparative Characterization ofPlants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Modification of maternally defined H3K4me3 regulates the inviability of interspecificScience advances · 2023Article
- Evolution of eukaryotic centromeres by drive and suppression of selfish genetic elements.Seminars in cell & developmental biology · 2022Review
- Discovery and validation of human genomic safe harbor sites for gene and cell therapies.Cell reports methods · 2022Article
- The selfish yeast plasmid utilizes the condensin complex and condensed chromatin for faithful partitioning.PLoS genetics · 2021Article
- Step-by-Step Evolution of Telomeres: Lessons from Yeasts.Genome biology and evolution · 2021Article
- Review
- Super-Resolution Microscopy Reveals Diversity of Plant Centromere Architecture.International journal of molecular sciences · 2020Review
- Genetic and epigenetic effects on centromere establishment.Chromosoma · 2020Review
- Origin, Diversity, and Evolution of Telomere Sequences in Plants.Frontiers in plant science · 2020Review
- Review
- The Repetitive DNA Composition in the Natural Pesticide ProducerFrontiers in plant science · 2019Article
- A chromosome-level sequence assembly reveals the structure of the Arabidopsis thaliana Nd-1 genome and its gene set.PloS one · 2019Article
- A New View of the T-Loop Junction: Implications for Self-Primed Telomere Extension, Expansion of Disease-Related Nucleotide Repeat Blocks, and Telomere Evolution.Frontiers in genetics · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The centromere is the DNA region of the eukaryotic chromosome that determines kinetochore formation and sister chromatid cohesion. Centromeres interact with spindle microtubules to ensure the segregation of chromatids during mitosis and of homologous chromosomes in meiosis. The origin of centromeres, therefore, is inseparable from the evolution of cytoskeletal components that distribute chromosomes to offspring cells. Although the origin of the nucleus has been debated, no explanation for the evolutionary appearance of centromeres is available. We propose an evolutionary scenario: The centromeres originated from telomeres. The breakage of the ancestral circular genophore activated the transposition of retroelements at DNA ends that allowed the formation of telomeres by a recombination-dependent replication mechanism. Afterward, the modification of the tubulin-based cytoskeleton that allowed specific subtelomeric repeats to be recognized as new cargo gave rise to the first centromere. This switch from actin-based genophore partition to a tubulin-based mechanism generated a transition period during which both types of cytoskeleton contributed to fidelity of chromosome segregation. During the transition, pseudodicentric chromosomes increased the tendency toward chromosomal breakage and instability. This instability generated multiple telocentric chromosomes that eventually evolved into metacentric or holocentric chromosomes.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.