Although the genomes of thousands of plant and animal species have been sequenced, for most of these genomes a significant portion is missing—the highly repetitive DNA. In the midst of these mysterious genome compartments are the centromeres—essential chromosomal regions that allow cells to accurately pass on chromosomes when the cells divide. A new study publishing May 14 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by the Mellone lab at the University of Connecticut and the Larracuente lab at the University of Rochester combine cutting-edge sequencing technology with molecular and high-resolution microscopy methods to discover the sequences of all centromeres in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, a powerful model organism widely used in biomedical research.
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Source: Phys.org