Biswas Uddipta, Hempel Kai, Llano Elena, Pendas Alberto, Jessberger Rolf
Institute of Physiological Chemistry, Medical Faculty Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
Centro de Investigacion del Cancer (CSIC-USAL), Campus Miguel de Unamuno, Salamanca, Spain.
PLoS Genet. 2016 Oct 28;12(10):e1006389. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1006389. eCollection 2016 Oct.
Mammalian meiocytes feature four meiosis-specific cohesin proteins in addition to ubiquitous ones, but the roles of the individual cohesin complexes are incompletely understood. To decipher the functions of the two meiosis-specific kleisins, REC8 or RAD21L, together with the only meiosis-specific SMC protein SMC1β, we generated Smc1β-/-Rec8-/- and Smc1β-/-Rad21L-/- mouse mutants. Analysis of spermatocyte chromosomes revealed that besides SMC1β complexes, SMC1α/RAD21 and to a small extent SMC1α/REC8 contribute to chromosome axis length. Removal of SMC1β and RAD21L almost completely abolishes all chromosome axes. The sex chromosomes do not pair in single or double mutants, and autosomal synapsis is impaired in all mutants. Super resolution microscopy revealed synapsis-associated SYCP1 aberrantly deposited between sister chromatids and on single chromatids in Smc1β-/-Rad21L-/- cells. All mutants show telomere length reduction and structural disruptions, while wild-type telomeres feature a circular TRF2 structure reminiscent of t-loops. There is no loss of centromeric cohesion in both double mutants at leptonema/early zygonema, indicating that, at least in the mutant backgrounds, an SMC1α/RAD21 complex provides centromeric cohesion at this early stage. Thus, in early prophase I the most prominent roles of the meiosis-specific cohesins are in axis-related features such as axis length, synapsis and telomere integrity rather than centromeric cohesion.
除了普遍存在的黏连蛋白外,哺乳动物的减数分裂细胞还具有四种减数分裂特异性黏连蛋白,但各个黏连蛋白复合体的作用尚未完全明确。为了解析两种减数分裂特异性kleisin蛋白REC8或RAD21L以及唯一的减数分裂特异性SMC蛋白SMC1β的功能,我们构建了Smc1β-/-Rec8-/-和Smc1β-/-Rad21L-/-小鼠突变体。对精母细胞染色体的分析表明,除了SMC1β复合体,SMC1α/RAD21以及在较小程度上的SMC1α/REC8也对染色体轴长度有贡献。去除SMC1β和RAD21L几乎完全消除了所有染色体轴。性染色体在单突变体或双突变体中都不配对,并且所有突变体中的常染色体联会均受损。超分辨率显微镜显示,在Smc1β-/-Rad21L-/-细胞中,与联会相关的SYCP1异常沉积在姐妹染色单体之间和单个染色单体上。所有突变体均表现出端粒长度缩短和结构破坏,而野生型端粒具有类似于t环的环状TRF2结构。在细线期/早偶线期,两个双突变体中着丝粒黏连均未丧失,这表明至少在突变背景下,SMC1α/RAD21复合体在这一早期阶段提供着丝粒黏连。因此,在减数分裂前期I早期,减数分裂特异性黏连蛋白最显著的作用在于与轴相关的特征,如轴长度、联会和端粒完整性,而非着丝粒黏连。