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CENP-B is a highly conserved mammalian centromere protein with homology to the helix-loop-helix family of proteins

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Abstract

CENP-B is a centromere associated protein originally identified in human cells as an 80 kDa autoantigen recognized by sera from patients with anti-centromere antibodies (ACA). Recent evidence indicates that CENP-B interacts with centromeric heterochromatin in human chromosomes and may bind to a specific subset of human alphoid satellite DNA. CENP-B has not been unambiguously identified in non-primates and could, in principal, be a primate-specific alphoid DNA binding protein. In this work, a human genomic DNA segment containing the CENP-B gene was isolated and subjected to DNA sequence analysis. In vitro expression identified the site for translation initiation of CENP-B, demonstrating that it is encoded by an intronless open reading frame (ORF) in human DNA. A homologous mouse gene was also isolated and characterized. It was found to possess a high degree of homology with the human gene, containing an intronless ORF coding for a 599 residue polypeptide with 96% sequence similarity to human CENP-B. 5′ and 3′ flanking and untranslated sequences were conserved at a level of 94.6% and 82.7%, respectively, suggesting that the regulatory properties of CENP-B may be conserved as well. CENP-B mRNA was detected in mouse cells and tissues and an immunoreactive nuclear protein identical in size to human CENP-B was detected in mouse 3T3 cells using human ACA. Analysis of the sequence of CENP-B revealed a segment of significant similarity to a DNA binding motif identified for the helix-loop-helix (HLH) family of DNA binding proteins. These data demonstrate that CENP-B is a highly conserved mammalian protein that may be a member of the HLH protein family and suggest that it plays a role in a conserved aspect of centromere structure or function.

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  1. Department of Molecular Biology, Research Institute of Scripps Clinic, 10666 N. Torrey Pines Road, 92037, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Kevin F. Sullivan

  2. Department Molecular and Experimental Medicine, Research Institute of Scripps Clinic, 10666 N. Torrey Pines Road, 92037, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Charles A. Glass

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Sullivan, K.F., Glass, C.A. CENP-B is a highly conserved mammalian centromere protein with homology to the helix-loop-helix family of proteins. Chromosoma 100, 360–370 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00337514

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00337514

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