Analysis of centromere identity and structure in human cells

我们利用染色质IP、原子力显微镜测量和质谱分光光度法分析了HeLa细胞中含有CENPA的人着丝染色质。到目前为止，我们已经确定了CENPA染色质结构在间期是独特的，并且与包装基因组的其他染色质具有根本不同的特征。我们计划在整个细胞周期内使用实时成像和AFM技术来扩展我们的分析，以解决CENP-A如何组装和保留，以及它如何参与异位位点的非着丝粒功能。我们发现，在细胞周期中，CENP-A会改变其结构。该论文发表在2012年8月的Cell杂志上，并在Cell和Nature杂志上被重点报道。

We have analyzed human centromeric chromatin containing CENPA from HeLa cells in culture using Chromatin IP followed by atomic force microscopy measurements and mass spectrophotometry. Thus far, we have identified that the CENPA chromatin structure is uniquely organized during interphase, and has fundamentally different characteristics from the rest of the chromatin which packages the genome. We plan to extend our analysis using live imaging coupled with AFM across the cell cycle to address how CENP-A is assembled and retained, as well as how it participates in non-centromeric functions at ectopic loci. We have discovered that CENP-A changes its structure over the cell cycle. This manuscript has been published in the journal Cell in August 2012 and was highlighted in Cell and Nature.