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      Sequence Composition Underlying Centromeric and Heterochromatic Genome Compartments of the Pacific Oyster Crassostrea gigas

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          Abstract

          Segments of the genome enriched in repetitive sequences still present a challenge and are omitted in genome assemblies. For that reason, the exact composition of DNA sequences underlying the heterochromatic regions and the active centromeres are still unexplored for many organisms. The centromere is a crucial region of eukaryotic chromosomes responsible for the accurate segregation of genetic material. The typical landmark of centromere chromatin is the rapidly-evolving variant of the histone H3, CenH3, while DNA sequences packed in constitutive heterochromatin are associated with H3K9me3-modified histones. In the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas we identified its centromere histone variant, Cg-CenH3, that shows stage-specific distribution in gonadal cells. In order to investigate the DNA composition of genomic regions associated with the two specific chromatin types, we employed chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by high-throughput next-generation sequencing of the Cg-CenH3- and H3K9me3-associated sequences. CenH3-associated sequences were assigned to six groups of repetitive elements, while H3K9me3-associated-ones were assigned only to three. Those associated with CenH3 indicate the lack of uniformity in the chromosomal distribution of sequences building the centromeres, being also in the same time dispersed throughout the genome. The heterochromatin of C. gigas exhibited general paucity and limited chromosomal localization as predicted, with H3K9me3-associated sequences being predominantly constituted of DNA transposons.

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          RepeatExplorer: a Galaxy-based web server for genome-wide characterization of eukaryotic repetitive elements from next-generation sequence reads.

          Repetitive DNA makes up large portions of plant and animal nuclear genomes, yet it remains the least-characterized genome component in most species studied so far. Although the recent availability of high-throughput sequencing data provides necessary resources for in-depth investigation of genomic repeats, its utility is hampered by the lack of specialized bioinformatics tools and appropriate computational resources that would enable large-scale repeat analysis to be run by biologically oriented researchers. Here we present RepeatExplorer, a collection of software tools for characterization of repetitive elements, which is accessible via web interface. A key component of the server is the computational pipeline using a graph-based sequence clustering algorithm to facilitate de novo repeat identification without the need for reference databases of known elements. Because the algorithm uses short sequences randomly sampled from the genome as input, it is ideal for analyzing next-generation sequence reads. Additional tools are provided to aid in classification of identified repeats, investigate phylogenetic relationships of retroelements and perform comparative analysis of repeat composition between multiple species. The server allows to analyze several million sequence reads, which typically results in identification of most high and medium copy repeats in higher plant genomes.
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            Repeated genes in eukaryotes.

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              Centromeric chromatin exhibits a histone modification pattern that is distinct from both euchromatin and heterochromatin.

              Post-translational histone modifications regulate epigenetic switching between different chromatin states. Distinct histone modifications, such as acetylation, methylation and phosphorylation, define different functional chromatin domains, and often do so in a combinatorial fashion. The centromere is a unique chromosomal locus that mediates multiple segregation functions, including kinetochore formation, spindle-mediated movements, sister cohesion and a mitotic checkpoint. Centromeric (CEN) chromatin is embedded in heterochromatin and contains blocks of histone H3 nucleosomes interspersed with blocks of CENP-A nucleosomes, the histone H3 variant that provides a structural and functional foundation for the kinetochore. Here, we demonstrate that the spectrum of histone modifications present in human and Drosophila melanogaster CEN chromatin is distinct from that of both euchromatin and flanking heterochromatin. We speculate that this distinct modification pattern contributes to the unique domain organization and three-dimensional structure of centromeric regions, and/or to the epigenetic information that determines centromere identity.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Genes (Basel)
                Genes (Basel)
                genes
                Genes
                MDPI
                2073-4425
                24 June 2020
                June 2020
                : 11
                : 6
                : 695
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Division of Molecular Biology, Ruđer Bošković Institute, Bijenička cesta 54, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia; Monika.Tunjic.Cvitanic@ 123456irb.hr (M.T.C.); Tanja.Vojvoda.Zeljko@ 123456irb.hr (T.V.Z.); Tena.Grzan@ 123456irb.hr (T.G.); Evelin.Despot-Slade@ 123456irb.hr (E.D.-S.)
                [2 ]Departamento de Bioquímica, Xenética e Inmunoloxía, Centro de Investigación Mariña (CIM), Universidade de Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain; pasantes@ 123456uvigo.es (J.J.P.); danielgarciasouto@ 123456gmail.com (D.G.-S.)
                [3 ]Department of Zoology, Genetics and Physical Anthropology, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Praza do Obradoiro, 0, 15705 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
                [4 ]Cancer, Ageing and Somatic Mutation, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire CB10 1SA, UK
                Author notes
                [* ]Correspondence: Miroslav.Plohl@ 123456irb.hr (M.P.); esatovic@ 123456irb.hr (E.Š.)
                Author information
                https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6515-3946
                https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0997-8799
                https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2494-0721
                https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5570-4238
                Article
                genes-11-00695
                10.3390/genes11060695
                7348941
                32599860
                719f4ffa-2a40-412a-8c2b-f5825c8e99d9
                © 2020 by the authors.

                Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

                History
                : 21 May 2020
                : 22 June 2020
                Categories
                Article

                centromere,cenh3,heterochromatin,h3k9me3,chromatin immunoprecipitation,repetitive dna,bivalves,crassostrea gigas

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