Article
Cell Biology
Xuan Yang, Binyuan Zhai, Shunxin Wang, Xiangfei Kong, Yingjin Tan, Lin Liu, Xiao Yang, Taicong Tan, Shuxian Zhang, Liangran Zhang
Summary: RNA-DNA hybrids formed at ssDNA ends of DSBs actively regulate meiotic recombination in budding yeast, affecting the efficiency of sporulation and spore viability. The accumulation of RNA-DNA hybrids competes with Rad51/Dmc1, impairs homolog bias, and decreases crossover and noncrossover recombination.
Review
Genetics & Heredity
Meret Arter, Scott Keeney
Summary: This article discusses the process of recombination in meiosis, noting its broad conservation but specific differences between different taxa. The authors highlight the tension between functional conservation and rapid evolutionary change, and explore the important factors that shape our understanding of molecular mechanisms in reproductive biology.
NATURE REVIEWS GENETICS
(2023)
Article
Biology
Maikel Castellano-Pozo, Georgios Sioutas, Consuelo Barroso, Josh P. Prince, Pablo Lopez-Jimenez, Joseph Davy, Angel-Luis Jaso-Tamame, Oliver Crawley, Nan Shao, Jesus Page, Enrique Martinez-Perez
Summary: This study reveals the distinct roles of REC-8 and COH-3/4 complexes during meiosis. REC-8 complexes provide sister chromatid cohesion and DNA repair, while COH-3/4 complexes control higher-order chromosome structure.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Xiaofan Jin, Geoff Fudenberg, Katherine S. Pollard
Summary: Active, spatially accessible genomic regions during meiotic prophase are associated with DSB-favored loci, which further adopt a transient locally active configuration in early prophase. Conversely, crossover formation is depleted among DSBs in spatially accessible regions during meiotic prophase, particularly within gene bodies. Active chromatin regions have smaller average loop sizes in mammalian meiosis, indicating differences in chromatin architecture along chromosomal axes are associated with variable recombination activity.
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Kouji Hirota
Summary: Meiotic recombination is a crucial event for accurate chromosome segregation and genetic diversity in gametes. Spo11 plays a key role in initiating meiotic recombination by catalyzing double-strand breaks (DSBs). DSBs caused by Spo11 are repaired through homologous recombination, resulting in physical contact between homologous chromosomes. Recombination hotspots, non-uniformly induced sites of meiotic recombination, exist in genomes. The fission yeast ade6-M26 is a well-studied recombination hotspot.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Jasvinder S. Ahuja, Catherine S. Harvey, David L. Wheeler, Michael Lichten
Summary: This study found that both noncrossover and crossover recombination in meiosis involve break repair through synthesis-dependent strand annealing. The formation of crossover-specific double Holliday junctions occurs through processes involving branch migration.
Article
Biology
Liangyu Zhang, Weston T. Stauffer, John S. Wang, Fan Wu, Zhouliang Yu, Chenshu Liu, Hyung Jun Kim, Abby F. Dernburg
Summary: Meiotic chromosome segregation relies on synapsis and crossover recombination between homologous chromosomes. In C. elegans, recruitment of Polo-like kinase PLK-2 triggers phosphorylation and inactivation of CHK-2, an early meiotic kinase required for pairing, synapsis, and double-strand break induction. Inactivation of CHK-2 terminates double-strand break formation and enables crossover designation and cell cycle progression. These findings illuminate the mechanisms by which meiotic cells ensure crossover formation and accurate chromosome segregation.
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Erik Toraason, Marissa Glover, Anna Horacek, Diana E. Libuda
Summary: Accurate repair of DNA double-strand breaks in developing germ cells is crucial for proper chromosome segregation and genome integrity maintenance. Through utilizing the genetics and germline physiology of C. elegans, we successfully detected homolog-independent meiotic DSB repair and assessed recombination mechanisms.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Laura I. Lascarez-Lagunas, Saravanapriah Nadarajan, Marina Martinez-Garcia, Julianna N. Quinn, Elena Todisco, Tanuj Thakkar, Elizaveta Berson, Don Eaford, Oliver Crawley, Alex Montoya, Peter Faull, Nuria Ferrandiz, Consuelo Barroso, Sara Labella, Emily Koury, Sarit Smolikove, Monique Zetka, Enrique Martinez-Perez, Monica P. Colaiacovo
Summary: The choice of DSB repair pathway during meiosis is still unknown. In C. elegans, DSB repair occurs within the SC structure formed between homologous chromosomes. This study demonstrates that SYP-4, a component of the SC, is phosphorylated in response to DSBs and the ATM/ATR DNA damage response kinases. This phosphorylation plays a critical role in maintaining the structural integrity of the SC following DSB formation and promoting normal DSB repair progression and crossover patterning.
Article
Biology
David E. Almanzar, Spencer G. Gordon, Chloe Bristow, Antonia Hamrick, Lexy von Diezmann, Hanwenheng Liu, Ofer Rog
Summary: During meiosis, double-strand DNA breaks are repaired to form exchanges between parental chromosomes. The synaptonemal complex plays a role in promoting exchanges between both parental chromosomes and sister chromatids, by recruiting proexchange factors to repair sites. This mechanism is independent of specific chromosome conformation.
LIFE SCIENCE ALLIANCE
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Xianqing Jia, Qijun Zhang, Mengmeng Jiang, Ju Huang, Luyao Yu, Milton Brian Traw, Dacheng Tian, Laurence D. Hurst, Sihai Yang
Summary: Mitotic gene conversion, although rare, may play a significant role in organisms without early germline sequestration, showing similar importance to meiotic gene conversion in terms of converted markers from zygote to gamete.
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Sara M. Fielder, Tori Kent, Huiping Ling, Elizabeth J. Gleason, William G. Kelly
Summary: The study investigated the role of the dynein motor complex in homolog pairing in Caenorhabditis elegans. Depletion of dynein light chain (DLC-1) may prevent complete homolog synapsis and lead to abnormal aggregation of SC proteins. Results suggest that DLC-1 may act as a pre-synapsis chaperone-like factor for SYP proteins to regulate their self-association.
Review
Andrology
Feng-Guo Zhang, Rui-Rui Zhang, Jin-Min Gao
Summary: The synaptonemal complex (SC) is a proteinaceous macromolecular structure that assembles between paired homologous chromosomes during meiosis in various eukaryotes, playing critical roles in accurate meiotic chromosome segregation. Recent studies using super-resolution microscopy have provided insights into the structure and regulation of the SC, shedding light on its biological functions.
ASIAN JOURNAL OF ANDROLOGY
(2021)
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Fabien Dutreux, Abhishek Dutta, Emilien Peltier, Sabrina Bibi-Triki, Anne Friedrich, Bertrand Llorente, Joseph Schacherer
Summary: In this study, the non-model budding yeast Lachancea waltii was used to investigate meiotic recombination. It was found that L. waltii frequently lacks crossover, suggesting the existence of an alternative mechanism for gamete formation. The interference between meiotic crossovers in L. waltii was reduced compared to S. cerevisiae, and crossover hotspots were not conserved between Lachancea and Saccharomyces clades. This study demonstrates that meiotic recombination can evolve at a limited evolutionary scale within budding yeasts.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Yuji Suehiro, Sawako Yoshina, Tomoko Motohashi, Satoru Iwata, Katsufumi Dejima, Shohei Mitani
Summary: The study successfully applied the TMP/UV mutagenesis method to C. elegans, creating a gene mutation library and discovering 981 novel mutations in the whole genome. By eliminating false positives through machine learning, the accuracy of mutation identification reached over 95%.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Erik Toraason, Victoria L. Adler, Nicole A. Kurhanewicz, Acadia DiNardo, Adam M. Saunders, Cori K. Cahoon, Diana E. Libuda
Summary: Our custom algorithm and pipelines enable high-content image analysis of whole C. elegans germlines, allowing quantification of cytological features at single nucleus resolution and assessment of nuclei based on their position within the germline. Our approach has been shown to be adaptable and useful for researchers using C. elegans germline as a model system, demonstrating the capability of quantitative analysis of multiple cytological features in germlines.
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Katherine K. Billmyre, Maria Angelica Bravo Nunez, Douglas K. Bishop, Francesca Cole
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Anna K. de Regt, Cordell J. Clark, Charles L. Asbury, Sue Biggins
Summary: Tension plays a crucial role in stabilizing kinetochore-microtubule attachments and suppressing the destabilization activity of Aurora B kinase, ensuring accurate chromosome segregation.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Erik Toraason, Victoria L. Adler, Diana E. Libuda
Summary: Female reproductive aging is associated with decreased oocyte quality and fertility. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is a powerful model system for studying aging and has similar reproductive defects as mammals. DNA repair defects are a feature of C. elegans reproductive aging, and they are influenced by both reproductive aging and limited supplies of sperm. The induction and repair of DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) are affected by sperm presence and depletion, but DSB repair defects occur in aged germlines regardless of sperm effects. The E2 ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme variant UEV-2 plays a role in efficient DSB repair in young germlines.
Article
Developmental Biology
Jamie Ho, Leslie A. Guerrero, Diana E. Libuda, G. W. Gant Luxton, Daniel A. Starr
Summary: This study investigates the mechanism of nuclear deformation in Caenorhabditis elegans. The LINC complex facilitates confined nuclear migration by pulling nuclei towards the minus ends of microtubules. Parallel pathways involving CDC-42, the Arp2/3 complex, and NMY-2 were also found to function in nuclear migration.
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Erik Toraason, Marissa Glover, Anna Horacek, Diana E. Libuda
Summary: Accurate repair of DNA double-strand breaks in developing germ cells is crucial for proper chromosome segregation and genome integrity maintenance. Through utilizing the genetics and germline physiology of C. elegans, we successfully detected homolog-independent meiotic DSB repair and assessed recombination mechanisms.