Context-dependent neocentromere activity in synthetic yeast chromosome VIII

Stephanie Lauer, Jingchuan Luo, Luciana Lazar-Stefanita, Weimin Zhang, Laura H. McCulloch, Viola Fanfani, Evgenii Lobzaev, Max A. B. Haase, Nicole Easo, Yu Zhao, Fangzhou Yu, Jitong Cai, Build-A-Genome Class, Joel S. Bader, Giovanni Stracquadanio, Jef D. Boeke*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Pioneering advances in genome engineering, and specifically in genome writing, have revolutionized the field of synthetic biology, propelling us toward the creation of synthetic genomes. The Sc2.0 project aims to build the first fully synthetic eukaryotic organism by assembling the genome of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. With the completion of synthetic chromosome VIII (synVIII) described here, this goal is within reach. In addition to writing the yeast genome, we sought to manipulate an essential functional element: the point centromere. By relocating the native centromere sequence to various positions along chromosome VIII, we discovered that the minimal 118-bp CEN8 sequence is insufficient for conferring chromosomal stability at ectopic locations. Expanding the transplanted sequence to include a small segment (~500 bp) of the CDEIII-proximal pericentromere improved chromosome stability, demonstrating that minimal centromeres display context-dependent functionality 

Original languageEnglish
Article number100437
Number of pages21
JournalCell Genomics
Volume3
Issue number11
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 8 Nov 2023

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