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Chromosome biology

Pairing up for the genetic exchange

Nature Reviews Genetics volume 13, page 449 (2012)Cite this article

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chromosomes must find their homologous partner and then determine the sites of genetic recombination

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, chromosome pairing is accompanied by rapid meiotic prophase chromosome movements (RPMs). During these movements, telomeres cluster on the nuclear envelope, resulting in the formation of the 'chromosome bouquet' that has been hypothesized to stimulate chromosome pairing. Using a novel 'collision trap' system, Lee et al. studied chromosome pairing in S. cerevisiae. They generated strains in which the different chromosomes could be cross-linked by tetrameric lacI–GFP binding to lacO concatamers. This 'trapped' transient interactions of chromosomes, and the trapping could be observed as single fluorescent foci. Using strains mutant for RPM-mediating proteins, they showed that RPMs foster the interaction of homologous and heterologous chromosomes and that the kinetics of homologous pairing correlates with RPM activity. Bouquet formation, however, is poorly correlated with homologous pairing rates, hence homologous pairing is likely to be dependent on RPMs that stir the nuclear contents independently of bouquet formation.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPERS

  1. Lee, C.-H., Conrad, M. N. & Dresser, M. E. Meiotic chromosome pairing is promoted by telomere-led chromosome movements independent of bouquet formation. PLoS Genet. 8, e1002730 (2012)

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  2. Ding, D.-Q. Meiosis-specific noncoding RNA mediates robust pairing of homologous chromosomes in meiosis. Science 336, 732–736 (2012)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Brick, K. et al. Genetic recombination is directed away from functional genomic elements in mice. Nature 13 May 2012 (doi:10.1038/nature11089)

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Authors
  1. Hannah Stower
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Stower, H. Pairing up for the genetic exchange. Nat Rev Genet 13, 449 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg3265

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