Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Byeong Seong Ki, Sung Han Shim, Chanhyeok Park, Hyunjin Yoo, Hyeonwoo La, Ok-Hee Lee, Youngjoo Kwon, David G. Skalnik, Yuki Okada, Ho-Geun Yoon, Jin-Hoi Kim, Kwonho Hong, Youngsok Choi
Summary: A protein called Cfp1 has been found to play an important role in the development of sperm cells in mice. Its absence interferes with the process of meiosis, which leads to abnormal sperm formation. Cfp1 controls gene expression, including genes related to meiosis and homologous recombination.
EXPERIMENTAL AND MOLECULAR MEDICINE
(2022)
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Enrique J. Schwarzkopf, Omar E. Cornejo
Summary: PRDM9 drives recombination hotspots in certain mammals to ensure successful meiosis, potentially causing competition between meiotic transcription and recombination. The study suggests that PRDM9 might relocate recombination to avoid conflict between the two processes, with retrotransposons possibly playing a role in directing hotspots in the absence of other factors.
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Shenli Yuan, Tao Huang, Ziyou Bao, Shiyu Wang, Xinyue Wu, Jiang Liu, Hongbin Liu, Zi-Jiang Chen
Summary: The histone methylation reader ZCWPW1 is essential for maintaining H3K9ac by antagonizing HDAC proteins' deacetylation activity, promoting chromatin openness at recombination hotspots and enhancing homologous recombination during meiotic double-strand break repair. Ectopic expression of the germ-cell-specific protein ZCWPW1 in human somatic cells enhances double-strand break repair via homologous recombination, providing new insights into the regulation of meiotic homologous recombination by histone modifications and regulatory proteins.
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Yu Li, Siyuan Chen, Trisevgeni Rapakoulia, Hiroyuki Kuwahara, Kevin Y. Yip, Xin Gao
Summary: In this study, a computational method named RHSNet is proposed to identify and quantify the determinants of genetic recombination hotspots using deep learning and signal processing. The results show that RHSNet outperforms other methods and can accurately identify hotspot regions and known determinants, as well as quantify the factors that significantly contribute to the formation of recombination hotspots.
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Reine U. Protacio, Tresor O. Mukiza, Mari K. Davidson, Wayne P. Wahls
Summary: The molecular basis for the effects of environmental conditions and speciation on meiotic recombination has been revealed through analysis of DNA sequence-dependent recombination hotspots in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Changing environmental conditions directly affect local rates of recombination through DNA site-dependent hotspots, which are controlled by environmental condition-responsive signal transduction networks. Different classes of hotspots independently modulate recombination rates and can range from being inactive to highly active in response to changing conditions. This provides a molecular mechanism for the dynamic changes in the global frequency distribution of meiotic recombination.
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Reine U. Protacio, Mari K. Davidson, Wayne P. Wahls
Summary: Meiosis is a crucial process in the sexual life cycle of eukaryotes, contributing to genetic diversity through independent chromosome assortment and meiotic recombination. Recent studies have shown significant changes in the frequency distribution of recombination between closely related species, subspecies, and isolated populations of the same species. Analysis of recombination plasticity in fission yeast has provided new insights into the mechanisms underlying these rapid evolutionary changes, with different classes of hotspots acting as independently controlled rheostats. This dynamic modulation can rapidly and dramatically alter the global frequency distribution of recombination, contributing to the evolutionarily rapid changes in the recombination landscape.
FRONTIERS IN GENETICS
(2022)
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Samantha McConaughy, Keenan Amundsen, Qijian Song, Vince Pantalone, David Hyten
Summary: Recombination allows for the exchange of genetic material between two parents, which can be used by plant breeders to improve cultivars. Recombination hotspots, which are clustered regions of crossovers, mainly occur in certain areas of the genome. Understanding the distribution and sequence motifs associated with these hotspots can help breeders effectively utilize recombination in breeding.
G3-GENES GENOMES GENETICS
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Lydia K. Wooldridge, Beth L. Dumont
Summary: This study constructed broad- and fine-scale sex-averaged recombination maps in nine geographically isolated wild house mouse populations using a coalescent-based approach. The results showed low conservation of recombination maps across subspecies and populations, with most hotspots being unique to one population due to minimal sharing of Prdm9 alleles. Additionally, population-specific differences in the degree and direction of sex dimorphism for recombination were observed. Overall, this study highlights the variability of recombination landscape in M. musculus and emphasizes the functional impact of Prdm9 allelic variation in wild populations.
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Paris Ladias, Georgios S. Markopoulos, Charilaos Kostoulas, Ioanna Bouba, Sofia Markoula, Ioannis Georgiou
Summary: PRDM9 gene plays a fundamental role in meiosis, and recent research has found its variations, particularly in zinc finger motifs, to be associated with cancer. This study used advanced bioinformatic tools to explore the relationship between PRDM9F and cancer. Specific PRDM9 motifs were correlated with double-strand breaks in every cancer profile examined, and statistically significant associations were found between 55 unique sequence variations of PRDM9 and cancer. The study also identified connections between PRDM9 variations and specific cancer types, phenotypic conditions, and molecular functions, revealing the mechanistic underpinnings linking PRDM9 to cancer progression.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Biology
Ondrej Mihola, Vladimir Landa, Florencia Pratto, Kevin Brick, Tatyana Kobets, Fitore Kusari, Srdjan Gasic, Fatima Smagulova, Corinne Grey, Petr Flachs, Vaclav Gergelits, Karel Tresnak, Jan Silhavy, Petr Mlejnek, R. Daniel Camerini-Otero, Michal Pravenec, Galina V. Petukhova, Zdenek Trachtulec
Summary: The study found that the deletion of the Prdm9 gene in rats led to the relocation of recombination hotspots to functional regions, decreased fertility, but SHR rats were still able to produce healthy offspring. Compared to mice, the extended duration of meiotic prophase I in rat Prdm9 mutants may explain their relatively increased fertility.
Review
Andrology
Yang Li, Yu-Fan Wu, Han-Wei Jiang, Ranjha Khan, Qi-Qi Han, Furhan Iqbal, Xiao-Hua Jiang, Qing-Hua Shi
Summary: This article discusses the formation of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) in meiosis and its importance for sexually reproducing organisms, as well as the potential infertility issues caused by abnormal DSB formation. Research has shown that the number and distribution of DSBs are tightly regulated, but abnormalities can still occur. By analyzing the mutations of DSB formation genes and their association with human infertility, future directions and strategies for studying meiotic DSB formation are proposed.
ASIAN JOURNAL OF ANDROLOGY
(2021)
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Vaclav Gergelits, Emil Parvanov, Petr Simecek, Jiri Forejt
Summary: This study identified and characterized a chromosome-wide set of noncrossovers in mice by next-generation sequencing. Noncrossovers were found to have a significantly different length and distribution compared to crossovers, potentially related to asymmetric DSBs in the repair pathway, with implications for the molecular mechanism of hybrid sterility in mice.
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Jiri Forejt, Petr Jansa
Summary: Hybrid sterility is an early reproductive isolation mechanism in sexually reproducing species, preventing gene flow and leading to speciation. Increasing DNA divergence between closely related species may impair homologous chromosome recognition and disrupt synapsis, resulting in early meiotic arrest or aneuploidy. Impaired recognition of homologs acts as a universal chromosomal checkpoint in hybrid sterility, and examples such as the Prdm9 gene in mice and mismatch repair machinery in yeast demonstrate chromosomal homology search-based hybrid sterility. Further investigation of meiosis at the cellular and molecular level is needed to validate the role of homolog recognition in hybrid sterility and speciation.
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Sonika Ahlawat, Rekha Sharma, Reena Arora, Himani Sharma, Renuka Sehrawat, Annu Sharma, Karan Veer Singh, Ramesh Kumar Vijh
Summary: The PRDM9 gene is considered as the most rapidly evolving gene in many organisms' genomes and the sole speciation gene in vertebrates. This study explored the architecture of the PRDM9 zinc finger (ZF) domain in dromedary and Bactrian camels. The results showed that the ZF domain in both camels exhibited a highly conserved architecture, and lacked the typical evolutionary features of PRDM9. The low sequence variability of PRDM9 in these camel species may explain the fertility of hybrids between them. Additionally, phylogenetic analysis clearly distinguished camels from other livestock species. These findings challenge our understanding of PRDM9 and add to the mystery surrounding this gene.
INDIAN JOURNAL OF ANIMAL SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Ruqian Lyu, Vanessa Tsui, Wayne Crismani, Ruijie Liu, Heejung Shim, Davis J. McCarthy
Summary: Profiling gametes is important for constructing personalised haplotypes and meiotic crossover landscapes, but existing methods face challenges with low coverage and high processing requirements. In this study, we introduce efficient software tools for generating personalised haplotypes and calling crossovers in gametes, as well as constructing, visualising, and comparing individualised crossover landscapes. These tools achieve highly accurate results with user-friendly installation and efficient computation times.
NUCLEIC ACIDS RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Valerie Garcia, Stephen Gray, Rachal M. Allison, Tim J. Cooper, Matthew J. Neale
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Jing Pan, Mariko Sasaki, Ryan Kniewel, Hajime Murakami, Hannah G. Blitzblau, Sam E. Tischfield, Xuan Zhu, Matthew J. Neale, Maria Jasin, Nicholas D. Socci, Andreas Hochwagen, Scott Keeney
Review
Oncology
Tim J. Cooper, Kayleigh Wardell, Valerie Garcia, Matthew J. Neale
EXPERIMENTAL CELL RESEARCH
(2014)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Edgar Hartsuiker, Matthew J. Neale, Antony M. Carr
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Atsushi Shibata, Davide Moiani, Andrew S. Arvai, Jefferson Perry, Shane M. Harding, Marie-Michelle Genois, Ranjan Maity, Sari van Rossum-Fikkert, Aryandi Kertokalio, Filippo Romoli, Amani Ismail, Ermal Ismalaj, Elena Petricci, Matthew J. Neale, Robert G. Bristow, Jean-Yves Masson, Claire Wyman, Penny A. Jeggo, John A. Tainer
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Valerie Garcia, Sarah E. L. Phelps, Stephen Gray, Matthew J. Neale
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Yaroslav Terentyev, Rebecca Johnson, Matthew J. Neale, Muhammad Khisroon, Anna Bishop-Bailey, Alastair S. H. Goldman
NUCLEIC ACIDS RESEARCH
(2010)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Elda Cannavo, Dominic Johnson, Sara N. Andres, Vera M. Kissling, Julia K. Reinert, Valerie Garcia, Dorothy A. Erie, Daniel Hess, Nicolas H. Thoma, Radoslav Enchev, Matthias Peter, R. Scott Williams, Matt J. Neale, Petr Cejka
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2018)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Stephen Gray, Rachal M. Allison, Valerie Garcia, Alastair S. H. Goldman, Matthew J. Neale
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Stephanie A. Schalbetter, Geoffrey Fudenberg, Jonathan Baxter, Katherine S. Pollard, Matthew J. Neale
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2019)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
William H. Gittens, Dominic J. Johnson, Rachal M. Allison, Tim J. Cooper, Holly Thomas, Matthew J. Neale
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2019)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Flora Paldi, Bonnie Alver, Daniel Robertson, Stephanie A. Schalbetter, Alastair Kerr, David A. Kelly, Jonathan Baxter, Matthew J. Neale, Adele L. Marston
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Dominic Johnson, Margaret Crawford, Tim Cooper, Corentin Claeys Bouuaert, Scott Keeney, Bertrand Llorente, Valerie Garcia, Matthew J. Neale
Summary: Genetic recombination during meiosis involves the repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) created by Spo11, with recent findings indicating the existence of multiple Spo11 DSBs termed 'double cuts'. These double cuts vary in length with a periodicity of 10.5 base pairs and play a role in recombination and DNA gap repair during meiosis.
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Rebecca Johnson, Valerie Borde, Matthew J. Neale, Anna Bishop-Bailey, Matthew North, Sheila Harris, Alain Nicolas, Alastair S. H. Goldman
