DMMC Course: EPIGENETICS: FROM MECHANISMS TO MEDICINES

0930-1020 Monday 25 June 2007. O’Reilly Hall, University College Dublin.

Epigenetic Aspects of Centromere Inheritance and Function
Prof Kevin Sullivan (National University of Ireland, Galway)

Centromeres play key roles in regulating the cell cycle at the level of checkpoint regulation, directing chromosome segregation and targeting and regulation of Aurora B, a critical regulator of mitosis. Unlike most genetic loci, centromeres are not specified by their underlying DNA sequence. Rather, they are epigenetically determined by a distinctive chromatin structure assembled over centromeric DNA, characterized by a unique histone H3-like protein, CENP-A. This lecture will focus on understanding the assembly of centromeric chromatin, a critical model for understanding the propagation of epigenetic information encoded by protein complexes. In addition, epigenetic regulation of protein trafficking in the cell cycle will be discussed in respect to Aurora B and DNA methylation in pericentric heterochromatin.