Data from: Functional monocentricity with holocentric characteristics and chromosome-specific centromeres in a stick insect

Centromeres are essential for chromosome segregation in eukaryotes, yet
their specification is surprisingly diverse among species, and can involve
major transitions such as those from localized to chromosome-wide
centromeres between monocentric and holocentric species. How this
diversity evolves remains elusive. We discovered within-cell variation in
the recruitment of the major centromere protein CenH3, reminiscent of
variation typically observed among species. While CenH3-containing
nucleosomes are distributed in a monocentric fashion on autosomes and bind
tandem repeat sequences specific to individual or groups of chromosomes,
they show a longitudinal distribution and broad intergenic binding on the
X chromosome, which partially recapitulates phenotypes known from
holocentric species. Despite this variable CenH3 distribution among
chromosomes, all chromosomes are functionally monocentric, marking the
first instance of a monocentric species with chromosome-wide CenH3
deposition. Together, our findings illustrate a potential transitional
state between mono- and holocentricity or towards CenH3-independent
centromere determination, and help to understand the rapid centromere
sequence divergence between species.