text: Centromeres are the sites where spindle fibers attach to newly replicated chromosomes in order to segregate them into daughter cells when the cell divides. Each eukaryotic chromosome has a single functional centromere that is seen as a constricted region in a condensed metaphase chromosome. Centromeric DNA consists of a number of repetitive DNA sequences that often take up a significant fraction of the genome because each centromere can be millions of base pairs in length. In humans, for example, the sequences of all 24 centromeres have been determined and they account for about 6% of the genome. However, it is unlikely that all of this noncoding DNA is essential since there is considerable variation in the total amount of centromeric DNA in different individuals. Centromeres are another example of functional noncoding DNA sequences that have been known for almost half a century and it is likely that they are more abundant than coding DNA.