Publication details
Is centromere drive reflected in chromosome size?
| Authors | |
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| Year of publication | 2023 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | Previous studies have shown that the total centromere/kinetochore size per nucleus strongly correlates with the genome size across eukaryotes. Since centromere drive mediates variability of kinetochore size in seed plants and animals where only one of four products of female meiosis survives (asymmetric female meiosis), it could also be responsible for the higher chromosome size variation in these lineages compared to bryophytes, lycophytes, ferns, and fungi with symmetric female meiosis. We analyzed how the adaptive evolution of kinetochore protein CenH3 is related to chromosome size variation within groups (12 symmetric and 23 asymmetric) and within karyotypes (41 symmetric and 246 asymmetric). Symmetric groups/karyotypes had lower adaptive evolution of CenH3 and less diverged chromosome size than asymmetric. Therefore, we can confirm that centromere drive can affect the evolution of chromosome size in eukaryotes. |