TOPBP1 Shapes XY Silencing Dynamics Independently of Sex Body Formation to Ensure Male Fertility

ABSTRACT: In mammals and several other taxa, the ability of males to cope with the limited synapsis of the X and Y chromosomes during prophase I of meiosis relies on the process of meiotic sex chromosome inactivation (MSCI). Components of the somatic DNA damage response machinery, including ATR, TOPBP1, MDC1 and BRCA1 play key roles in MSCI, although how they establish XY silencing remains incompletely understood. In particular, it remains unclear how DDR factors coordinate XY silencing with DNA repair, chromosome synapsis and the formation of the sex body, a distinct phase-separated sub-nuclear structure formed during prophase I to house the unsynapsed XY bivalent. Here we report a mutant mouse (Topbp1B5/B5), harboring mutations in the BRCT5 domain of Topbp1, that shows impaired XY silencing but grossly normal sex body formation. While Topbp1B5/B5 mice are viable, without detectable somatic defects, males are completely infertile. Distinct from mice lacking ATR or TOPBP1 specifically during meiosis, Topbp1B5/B5 males exhibit normal chromosome synapsis and canonical markers of DNA repair in early prophase I. ATR signaling is mostly intact in Topbp1B5/B5 spermatocytes, although specific ATR-dependent events are disrupted, including localization of the RNA:DNA helicase Senataxin to chromatin loops of the XY. Strikingly, while Topbp1B5/B5 spermatocytes are able to initiate MSCI the completion of gene silencing is defective, with a subset of X chromosome genes displaying distinct patterns of transcriptional deregulation. These findings suggest a non-canonical role for the ATR-TOPBP1 signaling axis in XY silencing dynamics at advanced stages in pachynema. This is the first DDR mutant that separates XY silencing from sex body formation, as well as TOPBP1’s role in spermatogenesis from its roles in organismal viability.

INSTRUMENT(S): Q Exactive HF

ORGANISM(S): Homo Sapiens (human) Mus Musculus (mouse)

TISSUE(S): Testis

SUBMITTER: Carolline Ascencao  

LAB HEAD: Marcus Smolka

PROVIDER: PXD042199 | Pride | 2024-02-09

REPOSITORIES: Pride