Open Access

REVIEW

Holocentric Chromosomes in Plants: Historical Overview, Developments and Challenges

Ana Luisa Arantes Chaves^1,*, Marco Tulio Mendes Ferreira²

1 Institute of Natural Sciences, Federal University of Alfenas, Alfenas, Brazil
2 Department of Biology, Federal University of Lavras, Lavras, Brazil

* Corresponding Author: Ana Luisa Arantes Chaves. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Karyotypic Shifts: Shaping Plant Diversity and Driving Evolutionary Processes)

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2026, 95(3), 2 https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2026.077185

Received 04 December 2025; Accepted 04 February 2026; Issue published 31 March 2026

Abstract

Holocentric chromosomes, characterized by kinetochore activity distributed along almost their entire length, have attracted growing interest in cytogenetics and evolutionary biology, particularly because of their adaptive significance. This review provides a historical overview of research on holocentricity, from the earliest microscopic observations to recent advances made possible by modern molecular and cytogenetic techniques. We discuss the main hypotheses concerning the origin and evolution of holocentric chromosomes, emphasizing their multiple independent origins across diverse lineages, as well as the potential selective pressures underlying their maintenance and diversification. In addition, we examine the principal methods used for their identification, with particular emphasis on the immunolocalization of CENH3, a centromere-specific variant of histone H3, and discuss its applications, limitations, and recent methodological advances, including the development of universal markers. A comprehensive understanding of the structural and functional diversity of holocentric chromosomes is essential for elucidating the mechanisms of karyotype evolution across taxa and for shedding light on the processes that shaped early terrestrial life.

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Keywords

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