Centromeres contain specialized chromatin that includes the centromere-specific 
histone H3 variant, spCENP-A/Cnp1. Here we report identification of five fission 
yeast centromere proteins, Mis14-18. Mis14 is recruited to kinetochores 
independently of CENP-A, and, conversely, CENP-A does not require Mis14 to 
associate with centromeres. In contrast, Mis15, Mis16 (strong similarity with 
human RbAp48 and RbAp46), Mis17, and Mis18 are all part of the CENP-A 
recruitment pathway. Mis15 and Mis17 form an evolutionarily conserved complex 
that also includes Mis6. Mis16 and Mis18 form a complex and maintain the 
deacetylated state of histones specifically in the central core of centromeres. 
Mis16 and Mis18 are the most upstream factors in kinetochore assembly as they 
can associate with kinetochores in all kinetochore mutants except for mis18 and 
mis16, respectively. RNAi knockdown in human cells shows that Mis16 function is 
conserved as RbAp48 and RbAp46 are both required for localization of human 
CENP-A.