Genome Biol. 2013 Jan 30;14(1):R10. doi: 10.1186/gb-2013-14-1-r10

Melters DP, Bradnam KR, Young HA, Telis N, May MR, Ruby JG, Sebra R, Peluso P, Eid J, Rank D, Garcia JF, DeRisi JL, Smith T, Tobias C, Ross-Ibarra J, Korf I, Chan SW.

Comparative analysis of tandem repeats from hundreds of species reveals unique insights into centromere evolution.

Brute-force analysis assuming that the most abundant tandem repeat is a centromere. Sequence conservation is limited to close species. Similarity can be lost quickly (~10 MY) or can be kept for as long as ~50 MY. High order repeat structures could be detected. Discussees that “centromere DNA and CENH3 differences could introduce reproductive barriers, causing speciation”.