A functional assay for centromere-associated sister chromatid cohesion.

Cohesion of sister chromatids occurs along the entire length of chromosomes, including the centromere where it plays essential roles in chromosome segregation. Here, minichromosomes in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae are exploited to generate a functional assay for DNA sequences involved in cohesion. The centromeric DNA element CDEIII was found to be necessary but not sufficient for cohesion. This element was shown previously to be required for assembly of the kinetochore, the centromere-associated protein complex that attaches chromosomes to the spindle. These observations establish a link between centromere-proximal cohesion and kinetochore assembly.