CENP-W is a family of vertebral kinetochore proteins that associates directly with CENP-T. CENP-W members are histone-fold proteins. The histone fold region is critical for binding to centromeric DNA. Importantly, the CENP-T-W complex does not directly associate with CENP-A, but with histone H3 in the centromere region. CENP-T and -W form a hetero-tetramer with CENP-S and -X and bind to a ~100 bp region of nucleosome-free DNA forming a nucleosome-like structure. The DNA-CENP-T-W-S-X complex is likely to be associated with histone H3-containing nucleosomes rather than with CENP-nucleosomes.

1: Molecular architecture of vertebrate kinetochores. Takeuchi K, Fukagawa T; Exp Cell Res. 2012;318:1367-1374. PMID:22391098