Rice as a model for centromere and heterochromatin research |
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Authors: | Huihuang Yan Jiming Jiang |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Horticulture, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA |
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Abstract: | Rice (Oryza sativa) has become an important model plant species in numerous research projects involving genome, molecular and evolutionary biology.
In this review we describe the reasons why rice provides an excellent model system for centromere and heterochromatin research.
In most multicellular eukaryotes, centromeres and heterochromatic domains contain long arrays of repetitive DNA elements that
are recalcitrant to DNA sequencing. In contrast, three rice centromeres and the majority of the cytologically defined heterochromatin
in the rice genome have been sequenced to high quality, providing an unparalleled resource compared to other model multicellular
eukaryotes. Most importantly, active genes have been discovered in the functional domains of several rice centromeres. The
centromeric genes and sequence resources provide an unprecedented opportunity to study function and evolution of centromeres
and centromere-associated genes. |
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