Guide-directed DNA cleavage by a prokaryotic Argonaute protein induces chromosome recombination in Escherichia coli

Emerging evidence supports the argument that some prokaryotic argonautes (pAgos) serve as a defensive system against invasion of viruses and plasmids through guide DNAs (gDNAs) directed DNA cleavage. This DNA-guided DNA interference motivates research to induce genomic mutations via pAgo mediated cleavage. Here we demonstrate that CbAgo, a pAgo from Clostridium butyricum, is able to induce chromosomal recombination between direct repeat sequences via its gDNA-directed cleavage in Escherichia coli chromosome. We also show that CbAgo targeting can assist Lambda-Red recombineering in RecA-deficient strain. Our study reveals that cleavage by CbAgo in E. coli chromosome can be mutagenic and suggests its broader application in genetic manipulation.

Telomeres and Subtelomeres Dynamics in the Context of Early Chromosome Interactions During Meiosis and Their Implications in Plant Breeding

Genomic architecture facilitates chromosome recognition, pairing, and recombination. Telomeres and subtelomeres play an important role at the beginning of meiosis in specific chromosome recognition and pairing, which are critical processes that allow chromosome recombination between homologs (equivalent chromosomes in the same genome) in later stages. In plant polyploids, these terminal regions are even more important in terms of homologous chromosome recognition, due to the presence of homoeologs (equivalent chromosomes from related genomes). Although telomeres interaction seems to assist homologous pairing and consequently, the progression of meiosis, other chromosome regions, such as subtelomeres, need to be considered, because the DNA sequence of telomeres is not chromosome-specific. In addition, recombination operates at subtelomeres and, as it happens in rye and wheat, homologous recognition and pairing is more often correlated with recombining regions than with crossover-poor regions. In a plant breeding context, the knowledge of how homologous chromosomes initiate pairing at the beginning of meiosis can contribute to chromosome manipulation in hybrids or interspecific genetic crosses. Thus, recombination in interspecific chromosome associations could be promoted with the aim of transferring desirable agronomic traits from related genetic donor species into crops. In this review, we summarize the importance of telomeres and subtelomeres on chromatin dynamics during early meiosis stages and their implications in recombination in a plant breeding framework.

Aurora B and C kinases regulate chromosome desynapsis and segregation during mouse and human spermatogenesis

ABSTRACTPrecise control of chromosome dynamics during meiosis is critical for fertility. A gametocyte undergoing meiosis coordinates formation of the synaptonemal complex (SC) to promote efficient homologous chromosome recombination. Subsequent disassembly of the SC occurs prior to segregation of homologous chromosomes during meiosis I. We examined the requirements of the mammalian Aurora kinases (AURKA, AURKB and AURKC) during SC disassembly and chromosome segregation using a combination of chemical inhibition and gene deletion approaches. We find that both mouse and human spermatocytes fail to disassemble SC lateral elements when the kinase activity of AURKB and AURKC are chemically inhibited. Interestingly, both Aurkb conditional knockout and Aurkc knockout mouse spermatocytes successfully progress through meiosis, and the mice are fertile. In contrast, Aurkb, Aurkc double knockout spermatocytes fail to coordinate disassembly of SC lateral elements with chromosome condensation and segregation, resulting in delayed meiotic progression. In addition, deletion of Aurkb and Aurkc leads to an accumulation of metaphase spermatocytes, chromosome missegregation and aberrant cytokinesis. Collectively, our data demonstrate that AURKB and AURKC functionally compensate for one another ensuring successful mammalian spermatogenesis.This article has an associated First Person interview with the first author of the paper.

Recombination-aware phylogenomics unravels the complex divergence of hybridizing species.

Current phylogenomic approaches implicitly assume that the predominant phylogenetic signal within a genome reflects the true evolutionary history of organisms, without assessing the confounding effects of gene flow that result in a mosaic of phylogenetic signals that interact with recombinational variation. Here we tested the validity of this assumption with a recombination-aware analysis of whole genome sequences from 27 species of the cat family. We found that the prevailing phylogenetic signal within the autosomes is not always representative of speciation history, due to ancient hybridization throughout felid evolution. Instead, phylogenetic signal was concentrated within large, conserved X-chromosome recombination deserts that exhibited recurrent patterns of strong genetic differentiation and selective sweeps across mammalian orders. By contrast, regions of high recombination were enriched for signatures of ancient gene flow, and these sequences inflated crown-lineage divergence times by ~40%. We conclude that standard phylogenomic approaches to infer the Tree of Life may be highly misleading without considering the genomic partitioning of phylogenetic signal relative to recombination rate, and its interplay with historical hybridization.