ArticlePLoS genetics2009
The evolutionary origin of man can be traced in the layers of defunct ancestral alpha satellites flanking the active centromeres of human chromosomes.
Article in PLoS genetics, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 53 papers.
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Who cites it
53 citing papers in PubMed.
- Article
- A complete genome for the common marmoset.Cell · 2026Article
- Complete sequencing of medaka genomes reveals the architecture of centromeric satellites, giant mobile elements, and sex chromosomes.Genome research · 2026Article
- Article
- A global view of human centromere variation and evolution.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- The dynamic centromere.Chromosome research : an international journal on the molecular, supramolecular and evolutionary aspects of chromosome biology · 2025Review
- RepeatOBserver: Tandem Repeat Visualisation and Putative Centromere Detection.Molecular ecology resources · 2025Article
- Article
- Fast sequence alignment for centromeres with RaMA.Genome research · 2025Article
- CENP-A/CENP-B uncoupling in the evolutionary reshuffling of centromeres in equids.Genome biology · 2025Article
- Telomere-to-telomere sheep genome assembly identifies variants associated with wool fineness.Nature genetics · 2025Article
- Complex genetic variation in nearly complete human genomes.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- The centromere landscapes of four karyotypically diverse Papaver species provide insights into chromosome evolution and speciation.Cell genomics · 2024Article
- Vertebrate centromere architecture: from chromatin threads to functional structures.Chromosoma · 2024Review
- Article
- Article
- UniAligner: a parameter-free framework for fast sequence alignment.Nature methods · 2023Article
- Article
- The variation and evolution of complete human centromeres.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
- Review
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4 authors.
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Abstract
Alpha satellite domains that currently function as centromeres of human chromosomes are flanked by layers of older alpha satellite, thought to contain dead centromeres of primate progenitors, which lost their function and the ability to homogenize satellite repeats, upon appearance of a new centromere. Using cladistic analysis of alpha satellite monomers, we elucidated complete layer patterns on chromosomes 8, 17, and X and related them to each other and to primate alpha satellites. We show that discrete and chronologically ordered alpha satellite layers are partially symmetrical around an active centromere and their succession is partially shared in non-homologous chromosomes. The layer structure forms a visual representation of the human evolutionary lineage with layers corresponding to ancestors of living primates and to entirely fossil taxa. Surprisingly, phylogenetic comparisons suggest that alpha satellite arrays went through periods of unusual hypermutability after they became "dead" centromeres. The layer structure supports a model of centromere evolution where new variants of a satellite repeat expanded periodically in the genome by rounds of inter-chromosomal transfer/amplification. Each wave of expansion covered all or many chromosomes and corresponded to a new primate taxon. Complete elucidation of the alpha satellite phylogenetic record would give a unique opportunity to number and locate the positions of major extinct taxa in relation to human ancestors shared with extant primates. If applicable to other satellites in non-primate taxa, analysis of centromeric layers could become an invaluable tool for phylogenetic studies.
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