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The formation and spreading of heterochromatin by both RNA interference (RNAi) dependent and independent mechanisms is important for chromosome organization and cohesion, proper centromere function, and silencing. Schizosaccharomyces pombe is a useful model organism for the study of initiation, maintenance, and inheritance of epigenetic marks. Recent publications in the field have helped to explain the mechanism and functional consequences of programing the epigenome with specific focus on identifying effector complexes, gene silencing and position effect variegation, the cell cycle, and function of conserved regions of heterochromain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]