This region of the inner centromere protein has been found to be necessary and sufficient for binding to aurora-related kinase. This interaction has been implicated in the coordination of chromosome segregation with cell division in yeast.

1: The Schizosaccharomyces pombe Aurora-related Kinase Ark1 Interacts with the Inner Centromere Protein Pic1 and Mediates Chromosome Segregation and Cytokinesis. Leverson JD, Huang Hk HK, Forsburg SL, Hunter T; Mol Biol Cell 2002;13:1132-1143. PMID:11950927