ArticleBMC evolutionary biology2016
Evolution of long centromeres in fire ants.
Article in BMC evolutionary biology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed.
- Ancient but dynamic: structural expansion, massive gene duplication, and transposable element colonization in a supergene controlling ant social organization.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Reproductive mode and ploidy are associated with distinct organization of clustered centromeric regions in Meloidogyne nematodes.Genome biology · 2026Article
- Independent centromeric expansions define giant hornet genomes.BMC genomics · 2026Article
- Centromeres drive and take a break.Chromosome research : an international journal on the molecular, supramolecular and evolutionary aspects of chromosome biology · 2025Review
- A lateral flow immunoassay-based survey reveals a low-frequency truncated Solenopsis invicta venom 2-like protein and unique Solenopsis invicta venom 2 protein genotypes inFrontiers in insect science · 2025Article
- Causes and consequences of a complex recombinational landscape in the antGenome research · 2024Article
- Meiosis-specific decoupling of the pericentromere from the kinetochore.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Making the Genome Huge: The Case ofGenes · 2023Article
- Multiple heterochromatin diversification events in the genome of fungus-farming ants: insights from repetitive sequences.Chromosoma · 2022Article
- Plasticity in centromere organization and kinetochore composition: Lessons from diversity.Current opinion in cell biology · 2022Review
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- CenH3 distribution reveals extended centromeres in the model beetle Tribolium castaneum.PLoS genetics · 2020Article
- Super-Resolution Microscopy Reveals Diversity of Plant Centromere Architecture.International journal of molecular sciences · 2020Review
- Unexpected patterns of segregation distortion at a selfish supergene in the fire ant Solenopsis invicta.BMC genetics · 2018Article
- Chromosomal variation among populations of a fungus-farming ant: implications for karyotype evolution and potential restriction to gene flow.BMC evolutionary biology · 2018Article
- Understanding eukaryotic chromosome segregation from a comparative biology perspective.Journal of cell science · 2018Review
- The cellular mechanisms and consequences of centromere drive.Current opinion in cell biology · 2018Review
- Multiple large inversions and breakpoint rewiring of gene expression in the evolution of the fire ant social supergene.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2018Article
- Evolution of long centromeres in fire ants.BMC evolutionary biology · 2016Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundCentromeres are essential for accurate chromosome segregation, yet sequence conservation is low even among closely related species. Centromere drive predicts rapid turnover because some centromeric sequences may compete better than others during female meiosis. In addition to sequence composition, longer centromeres may have a transmission advantage.
resultsWe report the first observations of extremely long centromeres, covering on average 34 % of the chromosomes, in the red imported fire ant Solenopsis invicta. By comparison, cytological examination of Solenopsis geminata revealed typical small centromeric constrictions. Bioinformatics and molecular analyses identified CenSol, the major centromeric satellite DNA repeat. We found that CenSol sequences are very similar between the two species but the CenSol copy number in S. invicta is much greater than that in S. geminata. In addition, centromere expansion in S. invicta is not correlated with the duplication of CenH3. Comparative analyses revealed that several closely related fire ant species also possess long centromeres.
conclusionsOur results are consistent with a model of simple runaway centromere expansion due to centromere drive. We suggest expanded centromeres may be more prevalent in hymenopteran insects, which use haplodiploid sex determination, than previously considered.
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