Phillips Carolyn M, Meng Xiangdong, Zhang Lei, Chretien Jacqueline H, Urnov Fyodor D, Dernburg Abby F
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, 470 Stanley Hall, MC 3220, Berkeley CA 94720, USA.
Nat Cell Biol. 2009 Aug;11(8):934-42. doi: 10.1038/ncb1904. Epub 2009 Jul 20.
Caenorhabditis elegans chromosomes contain specialized regions called pairing centres, which mediate homologous pairing and synapsis during meiosis. Four related proteins, ZIM-1, 2, 3 and HIM-8, associate with these sites and are required for their essential functions. Here we show that short sequence elements enriched in the corresponding chromosome regions selectively recruit these proteins in vivo. In vitro analysis using SELEX indicates that the binding specificity of each protein arises from a combination of two zinc fingers and an adjacent domain. Insertion of a cluster of recruiting motifs into a chromosome lacking its endogenous pairing centre is sufficient to restore homologous pairing, synapsis, crossover recombination and segregation. These findings help to illuminate how chromosome sites mediate essential aspects of meiotic chromosome dynamics.
秀丽隐杆线虫的染色体包含被称为配对中心的特殊区域，这些区域在减数分裂过程中介导同源配对和联会。四种相关蛋白ZIM-1、2、3和HIM-8与这些位点相关联，并且是它们发挥基本功能所必需的。在这里，我们表明在相应染色体区域中富集的短序列元件在体内选择性地招募这些蛋白。使用SELEX的体外分析表明，每种蛋白的结合特异性源自两个锌指和一个相邻结构域的组合。将一组招募基序插入缺乏其内源配对中心的染色体中足以恢复同源配对、联会、交叉重组和分离。这些发现有助于阐明染色体位点如何介导减数分裂染色体动态的基本方面。
