Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 9 December 2005:
Vol. 310. no. 5754, pp. 1683 - 1686
DOI: 10.1126/science.1117468
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

A Conserved Checkpoint Monitors Meiotic Chromosome Synapsis in Caenorhabditis elegans

Needhi Bhalla1,2 and Abby F. Dernburg1,2*

We report the discovery of a checkpoint that monitors synapsis between homologous chromosomes to ensure accurate meiotic segregation. Oocytes containing unsynapsed chromosomes selectively undergo apoptosis even if a germline DNA damage checkpoint is inactivated. This culling mechanism is specifically activated by unsynapsed pairing centers, cis-acting chromosome sites that are also required to promote synapsis in Caenorhabditis elegans. Apoptosis due to synaptic failure also requires the C. elegans homolog of PCH2, a budding yeast pachytene checkpoint gene, which suggests that this surveillance mechanism is widely conserved.

1 Life Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
2 Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: afdernburg{at}lbl.gov

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Drosophila PCH2 Is Required for a Pachytene Checkpoint That Monitors Double-Strand-Break-Independent Events Leading to Meiotic Crossover Formation.
E. F. Joyce and K. S. McKim (2009)
Genetics 181, 39-51
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Yeast Pch2 promotes domainal axis organization, timely recombination progression, and arrest of defective recombinosomes during meiosis.
G. V. Borner, A. Barot, and N. Kleckner (2008)
PNAS 105, 3327-3332
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Caenorhabditis elegans prom-1 Is Required for Meiotic Prophase Progression and Homologous Chromosome Pairing.
V. Jantsch, L. Tang, P. Pasierbek, A. Penkner, S. Nayak, A. Baudrimont, T. Schedl, A. Gartner, and J. Loidl (2007)
Mol. Biol. Cell 18, 4911-4920
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A Maternal Screen for Genes Regulating Drosophila Oocyte Polarity Uncovers New Steps in Meiotic Progression.
V. Barbosa, N. Kimm, and R. Lehmann (2007)
Genetics 176, 1967-1977
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A Novel Nonnull ZIP1 Allele Triggers Meiotic Arrest With Synapsed Chromosomes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
N. Mitra and G. S. Roeder (2007)
Genetics 176, 773-787
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A Role for Caenorhabditis elegans Chromatin-Associated Protein HIM-17 in the Proliferation vs. Meiotic Entry Decision.
J. B. Bessler, K. C. Reddy, M. Hayashi, J. Hodgkin, and A. M. Villeneuve (2007)
Genetics 175, 2029-2037
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Mutator Phenotype of Caenorhabditis elegans DNA Damage Checkpoint Mutants.
J. Harris, M. Lowden, I. Clejan, M. Tzoneva, J. H. Thomas, J. Hodgkin, and S. Ahmed (2006)
Genetics 174, 601-616
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)