TY - JOUR TI - Dynamic turnover of centromeres drives karyotype evolution in Drosophila AU - Bracewell, Ryan AU - Chatla, Kamalakar AU - Nalley, Matthew J AU - Bachtrog, Doris A2 - Henikoff, Steven A2 - Tautz, Diethard A2 - Henikoff, Steven VL - 8 PY - 2019 DA - 2019/09/16 SP - e49002 C1 - eLife 2019;8:e49002 DO - 10.7554/eLife.49002 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.49002 AB - Centromeres are the basic unit for chromosome inheritance, but their evolutionary dynamics is poorly understood. We generate high-quality reference genomes for multiple Drosophila obscura group species to reconstruct karyotype evolution. All chromosomes in this lineage were ancestrally telocentric and the creation of metacentric chromosomes in some species was driven by de novo seeding of new centromeres at ancestrally gene-rich regions, independently of chromosomal rearrangements. The emergence of centromeres resulted in a drastic size increase due to repeat accumulation, and dozens of genes previously located in euchromatin are now embedded in pericentromeric heterochromatin. Metacentric chromosomes secondarily became telocentric in the pseudoobscura subgroup through centromere repositioning and a pericentric inversion. The former (peri)centric sequences left behind shrunk dramatically in size after their inactivation, yet contain remnants of their evolutionary past, including increased repeat-content and heterochromatic environment. Centromere movements are accompanied by rapid turnover of the major satellite DNA detected in (peri)centromeric regions. KW - centromere repositioning KW - karyotype evolution KW - Drosophila obscura JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -