Published 28 February 2005. doi:10.1083/jcb.200410144
The Rockefeller University Press, 0021-9525 $8.00
JCB, Volume 168, Number 5, 683-689
Crossing over is coupled to late meiotic prophase bivalent differentiation through asymmetric disassembly of the SC
Kentaro Nabeshima1,
Anne M. Villeneuve1, and
Monica P. Colaiácovo1,2
1 Department of Developmental Biology and Department of Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305
2 Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115
Correspondence to Anne M. Villeneuve: villen{at}cmgm.stanford.edu
Abstract
Homologous chromosome pairs (bivalents) undergo restructuring during meiotic prophase to convert a configuration that promotes crossover recombination into one that promotes bipolar spindle attachment and localized cohesion loss. We have imaged remodeling of meiotic chromosome structures after pachytene exit in Caenorhabditis elegans. Chromosome shortening during diplonema is accompanied by coiling of chromosome axes and highly asymmetric departure of synaptonemal complex (SC) central region proteins SYP-1 and SYP-2, which diminish over most of the length of each desynapsing bivalent while becoming concentrated on axis segments distal to the single emerging chiasma. This and other manifestations of asymmetry along chromosomes are lost in synapsis-proficient crossover-defective mutants, which often retain SYP-1,2 along the full lengths of coiled diplotene axes. Moreover, a 
-irradiation treatment that restores crossovers in the spo-11 mutant also restores asymmetry of SYP-1 localization. We propose that crossovers or crossover precursors serve as symmetry-breaking events that promote differentiation of subregions of the bivalent by triggering asymmetric disassembly of the SC.
Abbreviations used in this paper: DSB, double-strand break; IF, immunofluorescence; SC, synaptonemal complex.
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
Related Article
-
Crossovers break SC symmetry
- Nicole LeBrasseur
J. Cell Biol. 2005 168: 672.
[Full Text]
[PDF]
This article has been cited by other articles:
-
Resnick, T. D., Dej, K. J., Xiang, Y., Hawley, R. S., Ahn, C., Orr-Weaver, T. L.
(2009). Mutations in the Chromosomal Passenger Complex and the Condensin Complex Differentially Affect Synaptonemal Complex Disassembly and Metaphase I Configuration in Drosophila Female Meiosis. Genetics
181: 875-887
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
de Carvalho, C. E., Zaaijer, S., Smolikov, S., Gu, Y., Schumacher, J. M., Colaiacovo, M. P.
(2008). LAB-1 antagonizes the Aurora B kinase in C. elegans. Genes Dev.
22: 2869-2885
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Martinez-Perez, E., Schvarzstein, M., Barroso, C., Lightfoot, J., Dernburg, A. F., Villeneuve, A. M.
(2008). Crossovers trigger a remodeling of meiotic chromosome axis composition that is linked to two-step loss of sister chromatid cohesion. Genes Dev.
22: 2886-2901
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Smolikov, S., Eizinger, A., Schild-Prufert, K., Hurlburt, A., McDonald, K., Engebrecht, J., Villeneuve, A. M., Colaiacovo, M. P.
(2007). SYP-3 Restricts Synaptonemal Complex Assembly to Bridge Paired Chromosome Axes During Meiosis in Caenorhabditis elegans. Genetics
176: 2015-2025
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Burrows, A. E., Sceurman, B. K., Kosinski, M. E., Richie, C. T., Sadler, P. L., Schumacher, J. M., Golden, A.
(2006). The C. elegans Myt1 ortholog is required for the proper timing of oocyte maturation. Development
133: 697-709
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
