Some of the most important chapters in fruit flies’ genetic instruction book have finally been decoded.
For the first time, researchers have deciphered, or sequenced, the genetic makeup of all of a multicellular organism’s centromeres — and discovered stretches of DNA that may be key in divvying up chromosomes. Errors in doing that job can lead to cancer, birth defects or death. The team reported the achievement May 14 in PLOS Biology.
Centromeres, which give most chromosomes their characteristic X shape, help move chromosomes in dividing cells. “The chromosome is a bus, and our DNA and genes are the passengers. The centromere is the bus driver,” says Beth Sullivan, a geneticist and centromere biologist at Duke University School of Medicine not involved in the study. “It’s what moves the chromosome, after the DNA has been copied, into new daughter cells.”