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.
