Article
Biology
Julian Haase, Richard Chen, Wesley M. Parker, Mary Kate Bonner, Lisa M. Jenkins, Alexander E. Kelly
Summary: The TFIIH complex plays a crucial role in maintaining chromosome compaction and condensin enrichment by dynamically altering the chromatin environment to facilitate condensin loading and condensin-dependent loop extrusion.
Article
Biology
Jonay Garcia-Luis, Helene Bordelet, Agnes Thierry, Romain Koszul, Luis Aragon
Summary: This study reveals that degradation of cohesin during anaphase onset leads to aberrant chromatid segregation in yeast cells. Hi-C analysis of segregating chromatids shows that depletion of cohesin results in loss of intrachromatid organization. Surprisingly, cleavage of cohesin through specific methods does not significantly disrupt chromatid organization during anaphase, explaining successful bulk segregation.
Article
Biology
Martin Houlard, Erin E. Cutts, Muhammad S. Shamim, Jonathan Godwin, David Weisz, Aviva Presser Aiden, Erez Lieberman Aiden, Lothar Schermelleh, Alessandro Vannini, Kim Nasmyth
Summary: The eukaryotic cell cycle is characterized by dramatic changes in chromosomal DNA morphology between interphase and mitosis. Cohesin and condensin enzymes extrude DNA loops to configure chromosomal DNA topology, with cohesin acting during interphase and condensin primarily during mitosis. MCPH1 gene mutations in patients with microcephaly and the deletion of Mcph1 in mouse embryonic stem cells unleash condensin II activity during interphase, leading to compact chromosomes in G1 and G2 phases. This process is inhibited by MCPH1's binding to condensin II's NCAPG2 subunit, highlighting the crucial role of MCPH1 in blocking condensin II's association with chromatin.
Review
Neurosciences
Du Pang, Shengping Yu, Xuejun Yang
Summary: Mitosis and meiosis are crucial life activities that transmit eukaryotic genetic information to progeny in a stable and orderly manner. The abnormal function of condensin, a large protein complex, has been found to cause chromatin concentration and genome organization disorder, leading to various diseases, especially neurological disorders. Understanding these mechanisms is important for understanding related diseases and discovering new clinical treatments.
FRONTIERS IN MOLECULAR NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Marco A. Andonegui-Elguera, Rodrigo E. Caceres-Gutierrez, Alejandro Lopez-Saavedra, Fernanda Cisneros-Soberanis, Montserrat Justo-Garrido, Jose Diaz-Chavez, Luis A. Herrera
Summary: During mitosis, chromatin undergoes various activities regulated by histone post-translational modifications (HPTMs). Specific HPTMs play roles in chromosome condensation, centromere formation, and the assembly of regulatory protein complexes. Additionally, environmental factors can modify HPTMs, affecting chromosome segregation and genome stability.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Nicholas J. Fuda, Katjusa Brejc, William S. Kruesi, Edward J. Ralston, Rachel Bigley, Aram Shin, Miki Okada, Barbara J. Meyer
Summary: The study identifies critical X-sequence motifs in Caenorhabditis elegans that act synergistically in hermaphrodites to direct X-specific recruitment of the dosage compensation complex (DCC), a condensin complex. The findings reveal that synergy in DCC binding via combinatorial clustering of motifs triggers DCC assembly specifically on X chromosomes.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Mari Yoshinaga, Yuji Inagaki
Summary: This study reexamined the ubiquity of SMC1-6 in phylogenetically diverse eukaryotes and found multiple secondary losses of SMC5 and SMC6 in eukaryotic evolution. It also revealed that the SMC proteins constituting cohesin and condensin were derived from closely related but distinct ancestral proteins. Based on these findings, the divergence of SMC 1-6 from the archaeal homologs was discussed.
GENOME BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Yuri Takeichi, Tsuneyuki Takuma, Kotaro Ohara, Most Naoshia Tasnin, Takashi Ushimaru
Summary: This study reveals the mechanism of rDNA condensation in nutrient-starved G1 cells, showing that the high-mobility group protein Hmo1 plays a crucial role, and condensin, histone deacetylase Rpd3, and Cdc14 are also essential for the interphase rDNA condensation.
BIOCHEMICAL AND BIOPHYSICAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Cell Biology
Marina Rodriguez-Munoz, Martina Serrat, David Soler, Anna Genesca, Teresa Anglada
Summary: Chromosome bridges in cancer cells are often formed and may break during mitosis, with a direct correlation between the distance between bridge kinetochores and bridge breakage. The mechanisms responsible for chromosome bridge breakage during mitosis may depend on the separation between the bridge kinetochores. Previous studies have suggested mechanical stress or biochemical digestion as possible causes of bridge breakage in interphase cells, suggesting a multifactorial model for bridge breakage.
FRONTIERS IN CELL AND DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Eugene Kim, Alejandro Martin Gonzalez, Biswajit Pradhan, Jaco van der Torre, Cees Dekker
Summary: Condensin is a motor protein that organizes chromosomes by extruding loops of DNA. This study investigates how DNA supercoiling affects loop extrusion and provides insights into the loading and formation of supercoiled loops by SMC complexes.
NATURE STRUCTURAL & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Cell Biology
Joanna M. Wenda, Reinier F. Prosee, Caroline Gabus, Florian A. Steiner
Summary: Centromeres are crucial regions on chromosomes for kinetochore formation and microtubule attachment during mitosis. In the nematode C. elegans, the loading factor KNL-2 plays a key role in CENP-A deposition. Phosphorylation of KNL-2 by CDK-1 regulates the cooperation between centromeres and the condensation machinery, impacting chromosome segregation and condensation levels.
JOURNAL OF CELL SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Stefanos K. Nomidis, Enrico Carlon, Stephan Gruber, John F. Marko
Summary: Structural Maintenance of Chromosomes (SMC) complexes play critical roles in genome organization. Researchers developed a molecular dynamics model to investigate the control of SMC complex activities by ATP binding and hydrolysis. The model revealed the sensitivity of this process to DNA tension and the ability of the SMC complex to perform loop extrusion by tethering DNA to an additional binding site.
NUCLEIC ACIDS RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Biology
Qiming Yang, Te-Wen Lo, Katjusa Brejc, Caitlin Schartner, Edward J. Ralston, Denise M. Lapidus, Barbara J. Meyer
Summary: An evolutionary perspective reveals that the genetic regulatory hierarchy controlling sex determination and X-chromosome dosage compensation is conserved but with divergent mechanisms between Caenorhabditis briggsae and Caenorhabditis elegans. While the binding of the specialized condensin dosage compensation complex (DCC) to recruitment sites in Cbr is additive, DCC binding to Cel recruitment sites is synergistic. Rapid divergence of DCC target specificity, determined by motifs, has played a crucial role in establishing reproductive isolation between nematode species.
Article
Cell Biology
Florian P. Bock, Hon Wing Liu, Anna Anchimiuk, Marie-Laure Diebold-Durand, Stephan Gruber
Summary: Cells have the remarkable ability to organize and segregate chromosomes, which involves the cooperation between SMC complexes and ParB proteins. This study demonstrates that the bacterial Smc complex, along with ParB, can function together to organize and segregate foreign chromosomes, shedding light on the mechanisms of chromosome folding and segregation.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Jia-Hsin Huang, You-Rou Liao, Tzu-Chieh Lin, Cheng-Hung Tsai, Wei-Yun Lai, Yang-Kai Chou, Jun-Yi Leu, Huai-Kuang Tsai, Cheng-Fu Kao
Summary: iTARGEX, a new association framework, can identify novel regulators involved in biological traits without prior functional annotations. Experimental validation of the novel candidates provides solid evidence for their roles in the respective traits, converting genome-wide observations into causal gene function predictions. Further application of iTARGEX is expected to facilitate the discovery of new regulators and provide observations for novel mechanistic hypotheses regarding different biological traits and phenotypes.
NUCLEIC ACIDS RESEARCH
(2021)
