scholarly journals A Wisp3 Cre-knockin Allele Produces Efficient Recombination in Spermatocytes during Early Prophase of Meiosis I

PLoS ONE ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. e75116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Hann ◽  
Laura Kvenvold ◽  
Brittney N. Newby ◽  
Minh Hong ◽  
Matthew L. Warman
2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-261
Author(s):  
Jessica E. Fellmeth ◽  
Kim S. McKim

Abstract While many of the proteins involved in the mitotic centromere and kinetochore are conserved in meiosis, they often gain a novel function due to the unique needs of homolog segregation during meiosis I (MI). CENP-C is a critical component of the centromere for kinetochore assembly in mitosis. Recent work, however, has highlighted the unique features of meiotic CENP-C. Centromere establishment and stability require CENP-C loading at the centromere for CENP-A function. Pre-meiotic loading of proteins necessary for homolog recombination as well as cohesion also rely on CENP-C, as do the main scaffolding components of the kinetochore. Much of this work relies on new technologies that enable in vivo analysis of meiosis like never before. Here, we strive to highlight the unique role of this highly conserved centromere protein that loads on to centromeres prior to M-phase onset, but continues to perform critical functions through chromosome segregation. CENP-C is not merely a structural link between the centromere and the kinetochore, but also a functional one joining the processes of early prophase homolog synapsis to late metaphase kinetochore assembly and signaling.


2010 ◽  
Vol 188 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rihui Yan ◽  
Sharon E. Thomas ◽  
Jui-He Tsai ◽  
Yukihiro Yamada ◽  
Bruce D. McKee

Sister chromatid cohesion is essential to maintain stable connections between homologues and sister chromatids during meiosis and to establish correct centromere orientation patterns on the meiosis I and II spindles. However, the meiotic cohesion apparatus in Drosophila melanogaster remains largely uncharacterized. We describe a novel protein, sisters on the loose (SOLO), which is essential for meiotic cohesion in Drosophila. In solo mutants, sister centromeres separate before prometaphase I, disrupting meiosis I centromere orientation and causing nondisjunction of both homologous and sister chromatids. Centromeric foci of the cohesin protein SMC1 are absent in solo mutants at all meiotic stages. SOLO and SMC1 colocalize to meiotic centromeres from early prophase I until anaphase II in wild-type males, but both proteins disappear prematurely at anaphase I in mutants for mei-S332, which encodes the Drosophila homologue of the cohesin protector protein shugoshin. The solo mutant phenotypes and the localization patterns of SOLO and SMC1 indicate that they function together to maintain sister chromatid cohesion in Drosophila meiosis.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Régis E Meyer ◽  
Aaron R Tipton ◽  
Gary J Gorbsky ◽  
Dean S Dawson

ABSTRACTIn prophase of meiosis I, homologous partner chromosomes pair and become connected by crossovers. Chiasmata, the connections formed between the partners enable the chromosome pair, called a bivalent, to attach as a single unit to the spindle. When the meiosis I spindle forms in prometaphase, most bivalents are associated with a single spindle pole and go through a series of oscillations on the spindle, attaching to and detaching from microtubules until the partners of the bivalent are bi-oriented, that is, attached to microtubules from opposite sides of the spindle, and prepared to be segregated at anaphase I. The conserved, kinetochore-associated kinase, Mps1, is essential for the bivalents to be pulled by microtubules across the spindle in prometaphase. Here we show that MPS1 is not required for kinetochores to attach microtubules but instead is necessary to trigger the migration of microtubule-attached kinetochores towards the poles. Our data support the model that Mps1 triggers depolymerization of microtubule ends once they attach to kinetochores in prometaphase. Thus, Mps1 acts at the kinetochore to co-ordinate the successful attachment of a microtubule and the triggering of microtubule depolymerization to move the chromosome.


1959 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 457-466 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Lima-de-Faria

Grasshoppers of the species Melanoplus differentialis were injected with tritium-labelled thymidine. At intervals thereafter autoradiographic stripping film was applied over Feulgen squashes and sections. In this species during early prophase of meiosis the sex chromosome forms a heterochromatic block large enough to be resolved in tritium autoradiographs. A study of the squash preparations reveals that the sex chromosome is synthesizing DNA at a different period of time from the euchromatic autosomes. Since there is a developmental sequence of spermatocyte cysts along the testicular tubes it is possible from the sections to show that the heterochromatin synthesizes DNA later than does the euchromatin. To find out whether the results obtained in Melanoplus were characteristic of heterochromatin in general, young seedlings of rye were grown in a tritiated thymidine solution and Feulgen squashes were made as for Melanoplus. In rye leaf nuclei there is a large block of heterochromatin constituted by the proximal regions of the chromosomes and a euchromatic one formed by the median and distal regions of the same chromosomes. Here also the heterochromatin synthesizes DNA at a different period of time from the euchromatin. It is concluded that in rye the asynchrony of synthesis occurs within each chromosome. Counts of silver grains over the two types of chromatin in nuclei of Melanoplus and Secale disclosed that the number of grains per unit area was two to three times higher over the heterochromatin. To check the DNA content, Feulgen photometric measurements were made of Melanoplus nuclei at the same stage. The Feulgen and grain counts agree in showing that the heterochromatin contains two to three times more DNA per unit area than the euchromatin.


1936 ◽  
Vol 121 (823) ◽  
pp. 290-300 ◽  

Triploid organisms have three homologous chromosomes of each kind instead of the two of diploids. The regular mechanism of heredity fails in these circumstances. The triploid is incapable of breeding true by sexual reproduction. But the way in which it carries out the process of chromosome pairing and segregation is of great significance. The processes take place in normal series, but the relationships they establish are abnormal. A triploid thus provides a natural experiment, with the diploid of its own species as a control for one variable, and with triploids of different species as controls for others. In Tulipa and Hyacinthus I have made use of this experiment for inducing the principles of the external mechanics of chromosomes during the prophase of meiosis. I have inferred from them the relationships between the forces working in mitosis and meiosis. The triploid forms of various Fritillaria species make it possible to test the principles of metaphase mechanics induced from observations on structural hybrids and other polyploids (Darlington, 1932, b , and 1933, c ) as well as from the exceptional behaviour in the diploid species of Fritillaria already discussed.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher A. Hylton ◽  
Katie Hansen ◽  
Andrew Bourgeois ◽  
John E. Tomkiel

ABSTRACTTo maintain proper ploidy, haploid sex cells must undergo two subsequent meiotic divisions. During meiosis I, homologs pair and remain conjoined until segregation at anaphase. Drosophila melanogaster spermatocytes are unique in that the canonical events of meiosis I including synaptonemal complex (SC) formation, double-strand DNA breaks, and chiasmata are absent. Sex chromosomes pair at intergenic spacer sequences within the heterochromatic rDNA while euchromatin is required to pair and segregate autosomal homologies, suggesting that pairing may be limited to specific sequences. However, previous work generated from genetic segregation assays or observations of late prophase I/prometaphase I chromosome associations fail to differentiate pairing from conjunction. Here, we separately examined the capability of X euchromatin to pair and conjoin using an rDNA-deficient X and a series of Dp(1;Y) chromosomes. Genetic assays showed that duplicated X euchromatin can substitute for endogenous rDNA pairing sites. Segregation was not proportional to homology length, and pairing could be mapped to nonoverlapping sequences within a single Dp(1;Y). Using fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) to early prophase I spermatocytes, we showed that pairing occurred with high fidelity at all homologies tested. Pairing was unaffected by the presence of X rDNA, nor could it be explained by rDNA magnification. By comparing genetic and cytological data, we determined that centromere proximal pairings were best at segregation. Segregation was dependent on the conjunction protein Stromalin in Meiosis while the autosomal-specific Teflon was dispensable. Overall, our results suggest that pairing may occur at all homologies, but there may be sequence or positional requirements for conjunction.ARTICLE SUMMARYDrosophila males have evolved a unique system of chromosome segregation in meiosis that lacks recombination. Chromosomes pair at selected sequences suggesting that early steps of meiosis may also differ in this organism. Using Y chromosomes carrying portions of X material, we show that pairing between sex chromosomes can be mediated by sequences other than the previously identified rDNA pairing sites. We propose that pairing may simply be homology-based and may not differ from canonical meiosis observed in females. The main difference in males may be that conjunctive mechanisms that join homologs in the absence of crossovers.


1969 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 593-609
Author(s):  
M. D. CAVE ◽  
E. R. ALLEN

A large extra-chromosomal DNA body is found in gonial and oocyte nuclei of Acheta domesticus. Somatic cells within the ovary do not contain the DNA body which is limited to the nuclei of gametogenic cells. During early prophase of meiosis this body is spherically shaped and intensely Feulgen positive. Electron microscopy shows it to be composed of tightly packed fibrogranular material. The body is formed in the nuclei of premeiotic interphase cells where it first appears and a mass of dense chromatin material located within the nucleolus. In nuclei of early prophase cells the body is closely associated with the nuclear membrane. It increases in size, reaching a maximum in mid-pachytene nuclei. During late pachytene-early diplotene stage of meiosis the tight fibrillar material within the body loosens and takes on a less compact appearance. At the same time large fascicles of RNA-containing material accumulate within and around the DNA body. The amount of RNA material surrounding the body increases as the oocytes proceed into an arrested diplotene stage of development.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiang Fang ◽  
Xue-Lin Chen ◽  
Lei Zhang ◽  
Ya-Bin Li ◽  
Tian-Zeng Sun ◽  
...  

AbstractMonopolar spindle 1 (MPS1), which plays a critical role in somatic mitosis, has also been revealed to be essential for meiosis I in oocytes. Spermatogenesis is an important process involving successive mitosis and meiosis, but the function of MPS1 in spermatogenesis remains unclear. Here, we generated Mps1 conditional knockout mice and found that Ddx4-cre-driven loss of Mps1 in male mice resulted in depletion of undifferentiated spermatogonial cells and subsequently of differentiated spermatogonia and spermatocytes. In addition, Stra8-cre-driven ablation of Mps1 in male mice led to germ cell loss and fertility reduction. Spermatocytes lacking Mps1 have blocked at the zygotene-to-pachytene transition in the prophase of meiosis I, which may be due to decreased H2B ubiquitination level mediated by MDM2. And the expression of many meiotic genes was decreased, while that of apoptotic genes was increased. Moreover, we also detected increased apoptosis in spermatocytes with Mps1 knockout, which may have been the reason why germ cells were lost. Taken together, our findings indicate that MPS1 is required for mitosis of gonocytes and spermatogonia, differentiation of undifferentiated spermatogonia, and progression of meiosis I in spermatocytes.


Genetics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 214 (3) ◽  
pp. 605-616 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher A. Hylton ◽  
Katie Hansen ◽  
Andrew Bourgeois ◽  
John E. Tomkiel Dean

Diploid germline cells must undergo two consecutive meiotic divisions before differentiating as haploid sex cells. During meiosis I, homologs pair and remain conjoined until segregation at anaphase. Drosophila melanogaster spermatocytes are unique in that the canonical events of meiosis I including synaptonemal complex formation, double-strand DNA breaks, and chiasmata are absent. Sex chromosomes pair at intergenic spacer sequences within the ribosomal DNA (rDNA). Autosomes pair at numerous euchromatic homologies, but not at heterochromatin, suggesting that pairing may be limited to specific sequences. However, previous work generated from genetic segregation assays or observations of late prophase I/prometaphase I chromosome associations fail to differentiate pairing from maintenance of pairing (conjunction). Here, we separately examined the capability of X euchromatin to pair and conjoin using an rDNA-deficient X and a series of Dp(1;Y) chromosomes. Genetic assays showed that duplicated X euchromatin can substitute for endogenous rDNA pairing sites. Segregation was not proportional to homology length, and pairing could be mapped to nonoverlapping sequences within a single Dp(1;Y). Using fluorescence in situ hybridization to early prophase I spermatocytes, we showed that pairing occurred with high fidelity at all homologies tested. Pairing was unaffected by the presence of X rDNA, nor could it be explained by rDNA magnification. By comparing genetic and cytological data, we determined that centromere proximal pairings were best at segregation. Segregation was dependent on the conjunction protein Stromalin in Meiosis, while the autosomal-specific Teflon was dispensable. Overall, our results suggest that pairing may occur at all homologies, but there may be sequence or positional requirements for conjunction.


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