Distribution of bent DNA structures in the fission yeast centromere

Abstract To gain a clue as to the functional significance of DNA curvature, we experimentally characterized the distribution of bent DNA structures throughout the 35-kb cen 1 sequence, one of the isolated functional centromeric DNA of the fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe . It was revealed that a relatively large central portion of cen 1, covering a 2.2kb DNA sequence, displays a remarkable DNA curvature.