#PAGE_PARAMS# #ADS_HEAD_SCRIPTS# #MICRODATA#

Chromosome Mechanics and Meiotic Engine Maintenance


article has not abstract


Published in the journal: . PLoS Genet 4(9): e32767. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1000210
Category: Perspective
doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1000210

Summary

article has not abstract

The behavior of chromosomes during meiosis has been likened to a middle school dance, where partners find one another, form couples that move about and trade information, and then separate to opposite sides of the dance hall. With chromosomes, as with the dancers, forming exclusive couples often is difficult—individuals can be attracted to more than one partner or find themselves trapped behind or between other couples—and, failing to form a couple effectively, end up on the wrong side of the dance hall. For chromosomes, this failure of pairing and segregation leads to an unbalanced chromosome complement (aneuploidy), with its attendant problems of sterility and genetic disease. Two papers in this issue of PLoS Genetics [1],[2] demonstrate that telomere-promoted movements influence nearly every step in chromosome pairing and meiotic recombination, opening a new avenue to address questions that have intrigued biologists and vexed clinicians for over a hundred years.

Chromosome movement is implicit in the classically recognized stages of meiotic prophase, but descriptions of directly visualized movements have been rare (see [3]). Early in prophase, chromosomes transition from having their centromeres clustered near the spindle pole (the Rabl orientation) to having their telomeres clustered at the nuclear periphery adjacent to the spindle pole (the bouquet orientation; see Figure 1). The bouquet stage ends with dispersal of telomeres across the inner nuclear envelope as chromosomes finalize their intimate pairing by forming synaptonemal complexes (SCs) that link chromosome pairs closely along their lengths. The formation of these intimate, exclusive partnerships would seem to finish the task at hand and to end the need for active, whole-chromosome movements, but this turns out not to be the case.

Fig. 1. Chromosomes Pass through Distinct Organizational Phases as They Negotiate Meiotic Prophase.
Chromosomes Pass through Distinct Organizational Phases as They Negotiate Meiotic Prophase.
The Rabl orientation is established in the prior division, where centromeres (green balls) are pulled to the spindle pole (dark blue structure with emanating microtubules, anchored in the nuclear membrane), with the telomeres (red balls) trailing. Early in prophase, centromeres move away from the pole while telomeres attach to the nuclear membrane and move to a small area adjacent to the spindle pole, forming the bouquet. Chromosomes move out of the bouquet as the synaptonemal complex forms (red ladder-like structure), marking entry into zygotene and generating interlocks, where chromosomes are trapped between synapsing pairs. Completion of synapsis and resolution of interlocks marks pachytene, where chromosome pairs appear well separated.

Movements that persist throughout meiotic prophase were first described by Hiraoka's group in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe where, following bouquet formation, telomeres remain at the spindle pole while it leads the nucleus along microtubules, back and forth through the cell, until just before the first meiotic division [4]. Meiotic prophase is noncanonical in S. pombe in that synaptonemal complexes are not formed and recombination is not regulated to avoid forming crossovers near one another (i.e., there is no positive crossover interference). This has led some to question the generality of persistent movements. Recently, however, similarly persistent rapid prophase movements (RPMs) have been described in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae [5][7]. Although these movements are of individual chromosomes rather than of the whole genomic complement, and although they appear to be promoted by actin rather than by microtubules, each system involves SUN domain–containing proteins that are known to mediate transnuclear envelope linkages, in the present case tethering telomeres to the cytoskeleton [8][10]. Such linkages also are present in mammalian meiotic nuclei [11],[12], indicating a widely conserved mechanism and suggesting conserved function(s).

Before its role in these movements was recognized, the budding yeast Ndj1 protein was known to promote bouquet formation, the normal kinetics of SC formation, and the usual pattern of meiotic recombination; to maintain low levels of ectopic recombination (genetic exchanges between homologous DNA sequences in nonallelic locations); and, ultimately, to reduce the frequency of aneuploidy [13][17]. Ndj1 also plays a role in anchoring telomeres to the inner nuclear envelope [15], apparently by stabilizing the association of telomeres with the transmembrane SUN protein, Mps3 [10]. Reports that the meiosis-specific budding yeast protein Csm4 is similar to Ndj1 in being required to prevent aneuploidy [18] led the authors of the two current papers to ask, in remarkable molecular detail, whether the meiotic requirements for Csm4 are similar to those for Mps3 and Ndj1. The simple answer is “Yes,” but the angel is in the details.

The authors find that Csm4, unlike Mps3 and Ndj1, is not required to anchor telomeres to the nuclear envelope but is required for telomeres to engage in the RPMs (see [7],[8]). Nevertheless, the impact on the progress of recombination, in all its currently understood molecular intricacies, is similar—delays in the appearances of recombination intermediates begin very early in prophase and persist or lengthen as prophase progresses. The implication of these observations is that the RPMs are the critical factor rather than telomere tethering to the nuclear envelope per se. So then, what is the role of the RPMs? Here, the authors diverge somewhat in their answers. The paper from the Shinohara lab proposes that RPMs promote the biochemistry of recombination more or less directly, perhaps by affecting chromosome structure [1]. The paper from the Alani and Kleckner labs proposes that RPMs function during an early phase when the cell determines which early recombination intermediates will become crossovers. They suggest that delays in this phase, perhaps due to a requirement for Ndj1 and Csm4 to resolve chromosome interlocks (at zygotene, see Figure 1), generates the subsequent defects [2]. Tests of these hypotheses will require considerable ingenuity in experimental design.

A simple and striking conclusion from these papers is that mechanical energy, pumped into the nucleus via the telomeres, contributes critically to the work of genetic recombination. Identification of the MNC complex (Mps3, Ndj1, Csm4) in Sa. cerevisiae and of related structures and pathways in other organisms is only the beginning to understanding how these transnuclear envelope tethers are constructed and regulated. Understanding how these connections and the movements they foster contribute to the faithful segregation of chromosomes in meiosis will be challenging and rewarding, like the middle school dance.


Zdroje

1. KosakaH

ShinoharaM

ShinoharaA

2008 Csm4-dependent telomere movement on nuclear envelope promotes meiotic recombination. PLoS Genet 4(9) e1000196doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1000196

2. WanatJJ

KimKP

KoszulR

ZandersS

WeinerB

2008 Csm4, in collaboration with Ndj1, mediates telomere-led chromosome dynamics and recombination during yeast meiosis. PLoS Genet 4(9) e1000188doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1000188

3. ZicklerD

KlecknerN

1998 The leptotene-zygotene transition of meiosis. Annu Rev Genet 32 619 697

4. ChikashigeY

DingDQ

FunabikiH

HaraguchiT

MashikoS

1994 Telomere-led premeiotic chromosome movement in fission yeast. Science 264 270 273

5. Trelles-StickenE

AdelfalkC

LoidlJ

ScherthanH

2005 Meiotic telomere clustering requires actin for its formation and cohesin for its resolution. J Cell Biol 170 213 223

6. ScherthanH

WangH

AdelfalkC

WhiteEJ

CowanC

2007 Chromosome mobility during meiotic prophase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 104 16934 16939

7. KoszulR

KimKP

PrentissM

KlecknerN

KameokaS

2008 Meiotic chromosomes move by linkage to dynamic actin cables with transduction of force through the nuclear envelope. Cell 133 1188 1201

8. ConradMN

LeeCY

ChaoG

ShinoharaM

KosakaH

2008 Rapid telomere movement in meiotic prophase is promoted by NDJ1, MPS3, and CSM4 and is modulated by recombination. Cell 133 1175 1187

9. ChikashigeY

HaraguchiT

HiraokaY

2007 Another way to move chromosomes. Chromosoma 116 497 505

10. ConradMN

LeeCY

WilkersonJL

DresserME

2007 MPS3 mediates meiotic bouquet formation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 104 8863 8868

11. SchmittJ

BenaventeR

HodzicD

HoogC

StewartCL

2007 Transmembrane protein Sun2 is involved in tethering mammalian meiotic telomeres to the nuclear envelope. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 104 7426 7431

12. DingX

XuR

YuJ

XuT

ZhuangY

2007 SUN1 is required for telomere attachment to nuclear envelope and gametogenesis in mice. Dev Cell 12 863 72

13. ChuaPR

RoederGS

1997 Tam1, a telomere-associated meiotic protein, functions in chromosome synapsis and crossover interference. Genes Dev 11 1786 1800

14. ConradMN

DominguezAM

DresserME

1997 Ndj1p, a meiotic telomere protein required for normal chromosome synapsis and segregation in yeast [see comments]. Science 276 1252 1255

15. Trelles-StickenE

DresserME

ScherthanH

2000 Meiotic telomere protein Ndj1p is required for meiosis-specific telomere distribution, bouquet formation and efficient homologue pairing. J Cell Biol 151 95 106

16. GoldmanAS

LichtenM

2000 Restriction of ectopic recombination by interhomolog interactions during Saccharomyces cerevisiae meiosis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 97 9537 9542

17. WuHY

BurgessSM

2006 Ndj1, a telomere-associated protein, promotes meiotic recombination in budding yeast. Mol Cell Biol 26 3683 3694

18. RabitschKP

TothA

GalovaM

SchleifferA

SchaffnerG

2001 A screen for genes required for meiosis and spore formation based on whole-genome expression. Curr Biol 11 1001 1009

Štítky
Genetika Reprodukční medicína

Článek vyšel v časopise

PLOS Genetics


2008 Číslo 9
Nejčtenější tento týden
Nejčtenější v tomto čísle
Kurzy

Zvyšte si kvalifikaci online z pohodlí domova

plice
INSIGHTS from European Respiratory Congress
nový kurz

Současné pohledy na riziko v parodontologii
Autoři: MUDr. Ladislav Korábek, CSc., MBA

Svět praktické medicíny 3/2024 (znalostní test z časopisu)

Kardiologické projevy hypereozinofilií
Autoři: prof. MUDr. Petr Němec, Ph.D.

Střevní příprava před kolonoskopií
Autoři: MUDr. Klára Kmochová, Ph.D.

Všechny kurzy
Kurzy Podcasty Doporučená témata Časopisy
Přihlášení
Zapomenuté heslo

Zadejte e-mailovou adresu, se kterou jste vytvářel(a) účet, budou Vám na ni zaslány informace k nastavení nového hesla.

Přihlášení

Nemáte účet?  Registrujte se

#ADS_BOTTOM_SCRIPTS#