Project description:Uniparental disomy (UPD), in which an individual contains a pair of homologous chromosomes originating from only one parent, is a frequent phenomenon that is linked to congenital disorders and various cancers. UPD is thought to result mostly from pre- or post-zygotic chromosome missegregation. However, the factors that drive UPD remain unknown. Here we use the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe as a model to investigate UPD, and show that defects in the RNA interference (RNAi) machinery or in the YTH domain-containing RNA elimination factor Mmi1 cause high levels of UPD in vegetative diploid cells. This phenomenon is not due to defects in heterochromatin assembly at centromeres. Notably, in cells lacking RNAi components or Mmi1, UPD is associated with the untimely expression of gametogenic genes. Deletion of the upregulated gene encoding the meiotic cohesin Rec8 or the cyclin Crs1 suppresses UPD in both RNAi and mmi1 mutants. Moreover, overexpression of Rec8 is sufficient to trigger UPD in wild-type cells. Rec8 expressed in vegetative cells localizes to chromosomal arms and to the centromere core, where it is required for localization of the cohesin subunit Psc3. The centromeric localization of Rec8 and Psc3 promotes UPD by uniquely affecting chromosome segregation, causing a reductional segregation of one homologue. Together, these findings establish the untimely vegetative expression of gametogenic genes as a causative factor of UPD, and provide a solid foundation for understanding this phenomenon, which is linked to diverse human diseases.
Project description:We report gene expression profiling in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. We performed high-throughput sequencing of RNA isolated from wild-type, ago1d, mmi1d and dcr1d strains.
Project description:Occupancy profiling of lysine 9 dimethylated histone H3 in fission yeast. Occupancy profiling of Psc3, Rec8, Rad21 and Rec11 proteins in fission yeast.
Project description:Robertsonian translocations (ROBs) are whole arm rearrangements involving the acrocentric chromosomes 13-15 and 21-22 and carriers are at increased risk for aneuploidy and thus uniparental disomy (UPD). Chromosomes 14 and 15 are imprinted with expression of genes dependent on the parental origin of the chromosome. Correction of a trisomic or monosomic conceptus for chromosomes 14 or 15 would lead to one of the established UPD 14mat/pat or UPD 15 (Prader-Willi/Angelman) syndromes (PWS/AS). In view of this, prenatal UPD testing should be considered for balanced carriers of a ROB, fetuses with a familial or de novo balanced ROB that contains chromosome 14 or 15 or with a normal karyotype when a parent is a carrier of a balanced ROB with a 14 or 15. Individuals with congenital anomalies and an abnormal phenotype and carry a ROB involving the two imprinted chromosomes should also be UPD tested.