Published online 7 August 2006. doi:10.1083/jcb.200605074
The Rockefeller University Press, 0021-9525 $8.00
JCB, Volume 174, Number 4, 499-508
Meiotic cohesins modulate chromosome compaction during meiotic prophase in fission yeast
Da-Qiao Ding1,
Nobuko Sakurai1,
Yuki Katou2,
Takehiko Itoh3,
Katsuhiko Shirahige2,
Tokuko Haraguchi1, and
Yasushi Hiraoka1
1 Cell Biology Group, Kansai Advanced Research Center, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Nishi-ku, Kobe 651-2492, Japan
2 Gene Research Center, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Midori-Ku, Yokohama 226-8501, Japan
3 Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc., Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8141, Japan
Correspondence to Yasushi Hiraoka: yasushi{at}nict.go.jp
The meiotic cohesin Rec8 is required for the stepwise segregation of chromosomes during the two rounds of meiotic division. By directly measuring chromosome compaction in living cells of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, we found an additional role for the meiotic cohesin in the compaction of chromosomes during meiotic prophase. In the absence of Rec8, chromosomes were decompacted relative to those of wild-type cells. Conversely, loss of the cohesin-associated protein Pds5 resulted in hypercompaction. Although this hypercompaction requires Rec8, binding of Rec8 to chromatin was reduced in the absence of Pds5, indicating that Pds5 promotes chromosome association of Rec8. To explain these observations, we propose that meiotic prophase chromosomes are organized as chromatin loops emanating from a Rec8-containing axis: the absence of Rec8 disrupts the axis, resulting in disorganized chromosomes, whereas reduced Rec8 loading results in a longitudinally compacted axis with fewer attachment points and longer chromatin loops.
Abbreviations used in this paper: ChIP, chromatin immunoprecipitation; LE, linear element; rDNA, ribosomal DNA; SC, synaptonemal complex; SMC, structure maintenance of chromosome.

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