Project description:Comparison of genome binding/occupancy profiling of the cohesin subunit Rec8 by high throughput sequencing in WT and ctf19-9A strains in meiotic prophase I.
Project description:In meiosis I, exchanges provide a connection between homologous chromosome pairs that facilitates their proper attachment to the meiotic spindle. In many eukaryotes, homologous chromosomes that fail to become linked by exchanges exhibit elevated levels of meiotic errors, but they do not segregate randomly, demonstrating that mechanisms beyond exchange can promote proper meiosis I segregation. The experiments described here demonstrate the existence of a meiotic centromere pairing mechanism in budding yeast. This centromere pairing mediates the meiosis I bipolar spindle attachment of nonexchange chromosome pairs and likely plays the same role for all homologous chromosome pairs.
Project description:In meiosis I, homologous chromosomes segregate away from each other-the first of two rounds of chromosome segregation that allow the formation of haploid gametes. In prophase I, homologous partners become joined along their length by the synaptonemal complex (SC) and crossovers form between the homologs to generate links called chiasmata. The chiasmata allow the homologs to act as a single unit, called a bivalent, as the chromosomes attach to the microtubules that will ultimately pull them away from each other at anaphase I. Recent studies, in several organisms, have shown that when the SC disassembles at the end of prophase, residual SC proteins remain at the homologous centromeres providing an additional link between the homologs. In budding yeast, this centromere pairing is correlated with improved segregation of the paired partners in anaphase. However, the causal relationship of prophase centromere pairing and subsequent disjunction in anaphase has been difficult to demonstrate as has been the relationship between SC assembly and the assembly of the centromere pairing apparatus. Here, a series of in-frame deletion mutants of the SC component Zip1 were used to address these questions. The identification of a separation-of-function allele that disrupts centromere pairing, but not SC assembly, has made it possible to demonstrate that centromere pairing and SC assembly have mechanistically distinct features and that the centromere pairing function of Zip1 drives disjunction of the paired partners in anaphase I.
Project description:Subcellular compartmentalization of metabolic enzymes may elicit specific cellular functions by establishing a unique metabolic environment. Indeed, the nuclear translocation of certain metabolic enzymes is required for epigenetic regulation and gene expression control. Here, we reveal that, in cancer cells, the mitochondrial enzyme methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase 2 (MTHFD2) localizes in the nucleus during the G2-M phase of the cell cycle to secure mitosis progression. Nuclear MTHFD2 interacts with proteins involved in mitosis regulation and centromere stability, including the methyltransferases KMT5A and DNMT3B. Loss of MTHFD2 induces centromere overexpression and severe methylation defects, and impedes correct mitosis completion. As a consequence, MTHFD2 deficient cells accumulate chromosomal aberrations arising from chromosome congression and segregation defects. Blocking the catalytic nuclear function of MTHFD2 recapitulates the phenotype observed in MTHFD2 deficient cells, attributing to nuclear MTHFD2 an enzymatic active role in controlling mitosis. Our discovery uncovers a nuclear moonlighting role for the cancer target MTHFD2, and emphasizes that cancer metabolism rewiring may encompass the relocation of metabolic enzymes to alternative subcellular compartments.
Project description:Faithful chromosome segregation during meiosis I depends upon the formation of connections between homologous chromosomes. Crossovers between homologs connect the partners, allowing them to attach to the meiotic spindle as a unit, such that they migrate away from one another at anaphase I. Homologous partners also become connected by pairing of their centromeres in meiotic prophase. This centromere pairing can promote proper segregation at anaphase I of partners that have failed to become joined by a crossover. Centromere pairing is mediated by synaptonemal complex (SC) proteins that persist at the centromere when the SC disassembles. Here, using mouse spermatocyte and yeast model systems, we tested the role of shugoshin in promoting meiotic centromere pairing by protecting centromeric synaptonemal components from disassembly. The results show that shugoshin protects the centromeric SC in meiotic prophase and, in anaphase, promotes the proper segregation of partner chromosomes that are not linked by a crossover.
Project description:Subcellular compartmentalization of metabolic enzymes may elicit specific cellular functions by establishing a unique metabolic environment. Indeed, the nuclear translocation of certain metabolic enzymes is required for epigenetic regulation and gene expression control. Here, we reveal that, in cancer cells, the mitochondrial enzyme methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase 2 (MTHFD2) localizes in the nucleus during the G2-M phase of the cell cycle to secure mitosis progression. Nuclear MTHFD2 interacts with proteins involved in mitosis regulation and centromere stability, including the methyltransferases KMT5A and DNMT3B. Loss of MTHFD2 induces centromere overexpression and severe methylation defects, and impedes correct mitosis completion. As a consequence, MTHFD2 deficient cells accumulate chromosomal aberrations arising from chromosome congression and segregation defects. Blocking the catalytic nuclear function of MTHFD2 recapitulates the phenotype observed in MTHFD2 deficient cells, attributing to nuclear MTHFD2 an enzymatic active role in controlling mitosis. Our discovery uncovers a nuclear moonlighting role for the cancer target MTHFD2, and emphasizes that cancer metabolism rewiring may encompass the relocation of metabolic enzymes to alternative subcellular compartments.
Project description:CENP-A is the histone H3 variant necessary to specify the location of all eukaryoticcentromeres via its CENP-A targeting domain and either one of its terminal regions. In humans, several post-translational modifications occur on CENP-A, but their role in centromere function remains controversial. One of these modifications of CENP-A, phosphorylation on serine 7,has been proposed to control centromere assembly and function. Here, using gene targeting at both endogenous CENP-A alleles and gene replacement in human cells, we demonstrate that a CENP-A variant that cannot be phosphorylated at serine 7 maintains correct CENP-C recruitment, faithful chromosome segregation and long-term cell viability. Thus, we conclude that phosphorylation of CENP-A on serine 7 is dispensable to maintain correct centromere dynamics and function.
Project description:In most eutherian mammals, sex chromosomes synapse and recombine during male meiosis in a small region called pseudoautosomal region. However in some species sex chromosomes do not synapse, and how these chromosomes manage to ensure their proper segregation is under discussion. Here we present a study of the meiotic structure and behavior of sex chromosomes in one of these species, the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus). We have analyzed the location of synaptonemal complex (SC) proteins SYCP1 and SYCP3, as well as three proteins involved in the process of meiotic recombination (RAD51, MLH1, and gamma-H2AX). Our results show that although X and Y chromosomes are associated at pachytene and form a sex body, their axial elements (AEs) do not contact, and they never assemble a SC central element. Furthermore, MLH1 is not detected on the AEs of the sex chromosomes, indicating the absence of reciprocal recombination. At diplotene the organization of sex chromosomes changes strikingly, their AEs associate end to end, and SYCP3 forms an intricate network that occupies the Y chromosome and the distal region of the X chromosome long arm. Both the association of sex chromosomes and the SYCP3 structure are maintained until metaphase I. In anaphase I sex chromosomes migrate to opposite poles, but SYCP3 filaments connecting both chromosomes are observed. Hence, one can assume that SYCP3 modifications detected from diplotene onwards are correlated with the maintenance of sex chromosome association. These results demonstrate that some components of the SC may participate in the segregation of achiasmate sex chromosomes in eutherian mammals.