Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, D-97074 Würzburg, Germany.
Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, D-97074 Würzburg, Germany.
J Genet Genomics. 2014 Mar 20;41(3):107-15. doi: 10.1016/j.jgg.2014.01.009. Epub 2014 Feb 20.
The synaptonemal complex (SC) is an evolutionarily well-conserved structure that mediates chromosome synapsis during prophase of the first meiotic division. Although its structure is conserved, the characterized protein components in the current metazoan meiosis model systems (Drosophila melanogaster, Caenorhabditis elegans, and Mus musculus) show no sequence homology, challenging the question of a single evolutionary origin of the SC. However, our recent studies revealed the monophyletic origin of the mammalian SC protein components. Many of them being ancient in Metazoa and already present in the cnidarian Hydra. Remarkably, a comparison between different model systems disclosed a great similarity between the SC components of Hydra and mammals while the proteins of the ecdysozoan systems (D. melanogaster and C. elegans) differ significantly. In this review, we introduce the basal-branching metazoan species Hydra as a potential novel invertebrate model system for meiosis research and particularly for the investigation of SC evolution, function and assembly. Also, available methods for SC research in Hydra are summarized.
联会复合体（SC）是一种在有丝分裂前期介导染色体联会的进化上高度保守的结构。尽管其结构是保守的，但在当前后生动物减数分裂模型系统（黑腹果蝇、秀丽隐杆线虫和小家鼠）中，已鉴定的蛋白质成分没有序列同源性，这就提出了 SC 是否具有单一进化起源的问题。然而，我们最近的研究揭示了哺乳动物 SC 蛋白成分的单系起源。其中许多在后生动物中是古老的，并且已经存在于刺胞动物水螅中。值得注意的是，不同模型系统之间的比较表明，水螅和哺乳动物的 SC 成分之间具有很大的相似性，而节肢动物系统（黑腹果蝇和秀丽隐杆线虫）的蛋白质则有很大的差异。在这篇综述中，我们介绍了基础分支的后生动物物种水螅，作为减数分裂研究的一个潜在的新型无脊椎动物模型系统，特别是用于研究 SC 的进化、功能和组装。此外，还总结了水螅中 SC 研究的可用方法。
