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Meiosis is the generation of germ cells (eggs and sperm). In meiosis, DNA replication is followed by two division cycles: meiosis I, which segregates homologous chromosomes and meiosis II, which segregates sister chromatids. Thus, four daughter cells are generated that each contains one homologue of each chromosome.
Analysis of data from pre-implantation genetic testing sheds light on the genetic basis of meiotic-origin aneuploidy, the leading cause of human pregnancy loss, identifying common genetic variants associated with maternal meiotic errors.
Homologous recombination rearranges genetic information during meiosis to generate new combinations in the genome. Here, the authors report direct, single-individual detection of recombination in primates and humans using long-read sequencing.
To study pathways that lead to aneuploidy during aging, the authors provide a system that enables cohesion protein depletion in mouse oocytes, mimicking effects that occur during aging. They uncover a threshold for cohesion loss driving chromosome errors and show that actin and centromere defects amplify aneuploidy.
Meiotic HORMA domain proteins assemble to form chromosome axes that support crossing over and segregation. Here, the authors show that the assembly of these components into axes requires the TRiC chaperonin, revealing a nuclear role for protein folding.
Conditional ablation experiments show that key components of the synaptonemal complex protect double Holliday junction recombination intermediates to ensure their resolution into crossover products, which are required for accurate chromosome segregation during meiosis.
By leveraging long-read sequencing, single-cell input scNanoHi-C2 systematically delineates chromatin structural reprogramming in embryonic-stage germ cells (EGCs), highlighting the functional importance of three-dimensional (3D) genome structure in mammalian EGC development. This method provides a powerful tool for probing chromatin architecture in individual cells, particularly in rare or precious biological samples.
Aneuploidy is a major cause of embryonic failure and miscarriage. A new study identifies genetic variants of ELL3 associated with miscarriage and discovers a novel role for ELL3 in female meiosis.
A study in Science reports that corn snakes use both PRDM9 and promoter-like features to direct meiotic recombination, indicating that these are not mutually exclusive.
Suppressing ovulation protects against chromosomal abnormalities in ageing mouse oocytes, which can be partly explained by increasing REC8–cohesin retention on chromosomes.
