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© The Rockefeller University Press, 0021-9525/1997//831 $5.00
The Journal of Cell Biology, Volume 139, Number 4, , 1997 831-840

Article

Neocentromere-mediated Chromosome Movement in Maize



Hong-Guo Yu*, Evelyn N. Hiatt{ddagger}, Annette Chan§, Mary Sweeney*, and R. Kelly Dawe*,{ddagger}

* Department of Botany; and {ddagger} Department of Genetics, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602; and § Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720

Neocentromere activity is a classic example of nonkinetochore chromosome movement. In maize, neocentromeres are induced by a gene or genes on Abnormal chromosome 10 (Ab10) which causes heterochromatic knobs to move poleward at meiotic anaphase. Here we describe experiments that test how neocentromere activity affects the function of linked centromere/kinetochores (kinetochores) and whether neocentromeres and kinetochores are mobilized on the spindle by the same mechanism. Using a newly developed system for observing meiotic chromosome congression and segregation in living maize cells, we show that neocentromeres are active from prometaphase through anaphase. During mid-anaphase, normal chromosomes move on the spindle at an average rate of 0.79 µm/min. The presence of Ab10 does not affect the rate of normal chromosome movement but propels neocentromeres poleward at rates as high as 1.4 µm/min. Kinetochore-mediated chromosome movement is only marginally affected by the activity of a linked neocentromere. Combined in situ hybridization/immunocytochemistry is used to demonstrate that unlike kinetochores, neocentromeres associate laterally with microtubules and that neocentromere movement is correlated with knob size. These data suggest that microtubule depolymerization is not required for neocentromere motility. We argue that neocentromeres are mobilized on microtubules by the activity of minus end–directed motor proteins that interact either directly or indirectly with knob DNA sequences.

Address all correspondence to R. Kelly Dawe, Department of Botany, Miller Plant Sciences Building, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602. Tel.: (706) 542-1658. Fax: (706) 542-1805. E-mail: kelly{at}dogwood.botany.uga.edu

1. Abbreviation used in this paper: Ab10, abnormal chromosome 10.


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