Genome-wide maps of CENP-A nucleosomes in three neocentromere-containing cell lines

We used native ChIP-seq of CENP-A-containing particles from normal centromeres on alpha-satellite DNA and three naturally-occurring neocentromeres to test the proposed models for the major form of the fundamental repeating unit of centromeric chromatin. We found that the predominant form of the CENP-A particle at the centromere is an octameric nucleosome with loose terminal DNA. Additionally, we found CENP-A nucleosomes are strongly phased on the 171 bp alpha-satellite monomers of normal centromeres, and also display strong positioning and neocentromeres. Comparison of CENP-A and bulk nucleosome DNA lengths and positions in three different human neocentromere-containing cell lines