Abstract

Neocentromeres are functional centromeres formed in chromosome regions outside the normal centromere domains and are found in an increasing number of mitotically stable human marker chromosomes in both neoplastic and non-neoplastic cells. We describe here the formation of a neocentromere in a previously undescribed chromosomal region at 1p32→p36.1 in an oligospermic patient. Cytogenetic GTL banding analysis and the absence of detectable fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) signals using telomeric probes indicate the marker to be a ring chromosome. The chromosome is negative for CBG banding and is devoid of detectable centromeric α satellite and its associated centromere protein CENP-B, suggesting activation of a neocentromere within the 1p32-36.1 region. Functional activity of the neocentromere is shown by the retention of the ring chromosome in 97% of the patient's lymphocytes and 100% of his cultured fibroblasts, as well as by the presence of key centromere binding proteins CENP-E, CENP-F, and INCENP. These results indicate that in addition to CENP-A, CENP-C, and CENP-E described in earlier studies, neocentromere activity can further be defined by CENP-F and INCENP binding. Our evidence suggests that neocentromere formation constitutes a viable mechanism for the mitotic stabilisation of acentric ring chromosomes.