CENP-T is a family of vertebral kinetochore proteins that associates directly with CENP-W. The N-terminus of CENP-T proteins interacts directly with the Ndc80 complex in the outer kinetochore. 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. This domain is the C-terminal histone fold domain of CENP-T, which associates with chromatin [2-3].

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

2: Spindle microtubules generate tension-dependent changes in the distribution of inner kinetochore proteins. Suzuki A, Hori T, Nishino T, Usukura J, Miyagi A, Morikawa K, Fukagawa T; J Cell Biol. 2011;193:125-140. PMID:21464230

3: CENP-T-W-S-X forms a unique centromeric chromatin structure with a histone-like fold. Nishino T, Takeuchi K, Gascoigne KE, Suzuki A, Hori T, Oyama T, Morikawa K, Cheeseman IM, Fukagawa T; Cell. 2012;148:487-501. PMID:22304917