CiS‐ and trans‐acting factors involved in centromere function in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

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Abstract
The function of centromeric DNA in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been studied in detail. Twelve of the sixteen S. cerevisiae centromeres have been sequenced to date, and a consensus sequence has been identified. This sequence consists of a central region 78 to 86 bp in length which is greater than 90% A+T, usually in runs of As and runs of Ts. The central region is flanked on one side by a highly conserved 8bp sequence and on the other side by a highly conserved 25 bp sequence which contains partial dyad symmetry around a central C/G base pair. Mutational analyses have been used to determine the importance of each subset of the consensus sequence to centromere function. A protein which binds to the 8 bp sequence and at least one that binds to the 25bp sequence have been identified. The roles of these proteins in centromere function in mitosis and meiosis are currently under investigation.