Fig. 8: Schematic of meiotic progression upon perturbation of intercellular bridges.
From: Intercellular bridges are essential for transposon repression and meiosis in the male germline
In wild type, meiosis occurs in a syncytium comprised of germ cells interconnected by TEX14-dependent intercellular bridges. Chromosomes are replicated during the preleptotene stage, meiotic breaks are formed and synapsis is initiated during early prophase, breaks are predominantly repaired and synapsis is complete during late meiotic prophase. In Tex14 mutants, intercellular bridges are depleted and germ cells are individualized. Many cells fail to undergo meiotic DNA replication. Cells that replicate form meiotic breaks and initiate synapsis. However, mutant cells fail to complete synapsis and fully repair breaks. Additionally, Tex14 mutants derepress transposons during late prophase, culminating in cell death and infertility.
