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ReportsA Conserved Checkpoint Monitors Meiotic Chromosome Synapsis in Caenorhabditis elegansWe 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. * To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: afdernburg{at}lbl.gov
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)