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The Inner Centromere Organelle
We recently discovered that the inner centromere is a nonmembranous organelle that is generated by liquid-liquid demixing driven by localizing the CPC to chromatin. This breakthrough allows us to reconstitute complex biochemical reactions that emerge from inner centomeres from purified components
The inner centromere of every mitotic chromosome has a specicalized organelle between kinetochores that imparts specialized functions including cohesion, mitotic signaling and generating chromatin that can resist the pulling forces of microtubules.
The major constituents of the inner centromere are chromatin and the chromosome passenger complex (CPC). When these are mixed together in vitro they undergo liquid-liquid demixing which is a property of nonmembranous organelles
We have identified a number of perturbations that dissolve coacervates in vitro and inner centromeres on mitotic chromosomes
Coacervates are exciting because they can compartmentalize biochemical reactions in the cell. We have found CPC coacervates concentrate inner centromere proteins and we are reconstituting complex biochemical reactions that happen at inner centromeres inside CPC coacervates
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