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© The Rockefeller University Press, 0021-9525/1998//331 $5.00
The Journal of Cell Biology, Volume 142, Number 2, , 1998 331-339

The Synaptonemal Complex Protein SCP3 Can Form Multistranded, Cross-striated Fibers In Vivo

Li Yuan^*, Jeanette Pelttari^*, Eva Brundell^*, Birgitta Björkroth^*, Jian Zhao^*, Jian-Guo Liu^*, Hjalmar Brismar, Bertil Daneholt^*, and Christer Höög^*,,

^* Department of Cell and Molecular Biology (CMB), The Medical Nobel Institute, Center for Genomics Research, Karolinska Institutet, S-171 77 Stockholm, Sweden; and Department of Woman and Child Health, Pediatric Unit, St. Göran's Children's Hospital, S-112 81 Stockholm, Sweden

The synaptonemal complex protein SCP3 is part of the lateral element of the synaptonemal complex, a meiosis-specific protein structure essential for synapsis of homologous chromosomes. We have investigated the fiber-forming properties of SCP3 to elucidate its role in the synaptonemal complex. By synthesis of SCP3 in cultured somatic cells, it has been shown that SCP3 can self-assemble into thick fibers and that this process requires the COOH-terminal coiled coil domain of SCP3, as well as the NH₂-terminal nonhelical domain. We have further analyzed the thick SCP3 fibers by transmission electron microscopy and immunoelectron microscopy. We found that the fibers display a transversal striation with a periodicity of 20 nm and consist of a large number of closely associated, thin fibers, 5–10 nm in diameter. These features suggest that the SCP3 fibers are structurally related to intermediate filaments. It is known that in some species the lateral elements of the synaptonemal complex show a highly ordered striated structure resembling that of the SCP3 fibers. We propose that SCP3 fibers constitute the core of the lateral elements of the synaptonemal complex and function as a molecular framework to which other proteins attach, regulating DNA binding to the chromatid axis, sister chromatid cohesion, synapsis, and recombination.

Key Words: meiosis • cohesion • lateral element • chromosomes • recombination

Abbreviations used in this paper: CE, central element; GST, glutathione-S-transferase; IF, intermediate filament; LE, lateral element; SC, synaptonemal complex; SCP, synaptonemal complex protein; TEM, transmission electron microscopy; TF, transversal filament; Xlr, X-linked lymphocyte-regulated protein; Xmr, Xlr-regulated, meiosis-regulated.

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