ArticleAnnals of botany2022
Kinetochore size scales with chromosome size in bimodal karyotypes of Agavoideae.
Article in Annals of botany, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- Kinetochore size correlates with chromosome size in Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum kochii Parl., Asparagaceae).Plant biology (Stuttgart, Germany) · 2026Article
- Centromeres drive and take a break.Chromosome research : an international journal on the molecular, supramolecular and evolutionary aspects of chromosome biology · 2025Review
- Thriving or Withering? Plant Molecular Cytogenetics in the First Quarter of the 21st Century.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Centromere drive may propel the evolution of chromosome and genome size in plants.Annals of botany · 2024Article
- Super-resolution microscopy reveals the number and distribution of topoisomerase IIα and CENH3 molecules within barley metaphase chromosomes.Chromosoma · 2023Article
- Chromosome size matters: genome evolution in the cyperid clade.Annals of botany · 2022Article
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5 authors.
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Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimsIn eukaryotes, the total kinetochore size (defined as a chromosomal region containing CENH3-positive nucleosomes) per nucleus strongly correlates with genome size, a relationship that has been hypothesized to stem from general intracellular scaling principles. However, if larger chromosomes within a karyotype required larger kinetochores to move properly, it could also be derived from the mechanics of cell division.
methodsWe selected seven species of the plant subfamily Agavoideae whose karyotypes are characterized by the presence of small and very large chromosomes. We visualized the kinetochore regions and chromosomes by immunolabelling with an anti-CENH3 antibody and DAPI (6'-diamidino-2-phenylindole) staining. We then employed 2D widefield and 3D super-resolution microscopy to measure chromosome and kinetochore areas and volumes, respectively. To assess the scaling relationship of kinetochore size to chromosome size inside a karyotype, we log-transformed the data and analysed them with linear mixed models which allowed us to control for the inherent hierarchical structure of the dataset (metaphases within slides and species). KEY
resultsWe found a positive intra-karyotype relationship between kinetochore and chromosome size. The slope of the regression line of the observed relationship (0.277 for areas, 0.247 for volumes) was very close to the theoretical slope of 0.25 for chromosome width based on the expected physics of chromosome passage through the cytoplasm during cell division. We obtained similar results by reanalysing available data from human and maize.
conclusionsOur findings suggest that the total kinetochore size to genome size scaling observed across eukaryotes may also originate from the mechanics of cell division. Moreover, the potential causal link between kinetochore and chromosome size indicates that evolutionary mechanisms capable of leading kinetochore size changes to fixation, such as centromere drive, could promote the size evolution of entire chromosomes and genomes.
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