Investigation of the mechanism of meiotic DNA cleavage by VMA1-derived endonuclease uncovers a meiotic alteration in chromatin structure around the target site

An Evolutionary Perspective on Yeast Mating-Type Switching

Cell differentiation in yeast species is controlled by a reversible, programmed DNA-rearrangement process called mating-type switching. Switching is achieved by two functionally similar but structurally distinct processes in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. In both species, haploid cells possess one active and two silent copies of the mating-type locus (a three-cassette structure), the active locus is cleaved, and synthesis-dependent strand annealing is used to replace it with a copy of a silent locus encoding the opposite mating-type information. Each species has its own set of components responsible for regulating these processes. In this review, we summarize knowledge about the function and evolution of mating-type switching components in these species, including mechanisms of heterochromatin formation, MAT locus cleavage, donor bias, lineage tracking, and environmental regulation of switching. We compare switching in these well-studied species to others such as Kluyveromyces lactis and the methylotrophic yeasts Ogataea polymorpha and Komagataella phaffii. We focus on some key questions: Which cells switch mating type? What molecular apparatus is required for switching? Where did it come from? And what is the evolutionary purpose of switching?

Targeted induction of meiotic double-strand breaks reveals chromosomal domain-dependent regulation of Spo11 and interactions among potential sites of meiotic recombination

Meiotic recombination is initiated by programmed DNA double-strand break (DSB) formation mediated by Spo11. DSBs occur with frequency in chromosomal regions called hot domains but are seldom seen in cold domains. To obtain insights into the determinants of the distribution of meiotic DSBs, we examined the effects of inducing targeted DSBs during yeast meiosis using a UAS-directed form of Spo11 (Gal4BD-Spo11) and a meiosis-specific endonuclease, VDE (PI-SceI). Gal4BD-Spo11 cleaved its target sequence (UAS) integrated in hot domains but rarely in cold domains. However, Gal4BD-Spo11 did bind to UAS and VDE efficiently cleaved its recognition sequence in either context, suggesting that a cold domain is not a region of inaccessible or uncleavable chromosome structure. Importantly, self-association of Spo11 occurred at UAS in a hot domain but not in a cold domain, raising the possibility that Spo11 remains in an inactive intermediate state in cold domains. Integration of UAS adjacent to known DSB hotspots allowed us to detect competitive interactions among hotspots for activation. Moreover, the presence of VDE-introduced DSB repressed proximal hotspot activity, implicating DSBs themselves in interactions among hotspots. Thus, potential sites for Spo11-mediated DSB are subject to domain-specific and local competitive regulations during and after DSB formation.

Conditional genomic rearrangement by designed meiotic recombination using VDE (PI-SceI) in yeast

Meiotic recombination plays critical roles in the acquisition of genetic diversity and has been utilized for conventional breeding of livestock and crops. The frequency of meiotic recombination is normally low, and is extremely low in regions called "recombination cold domains". Here, we describe a new and highly efficient method to modulate yeast meiotic gene rearrangements using VDE (PI-SceI), an intein-encoded endonuclease that causes an efficient unidirectional meiotic gene conversion at its recognition sequence (VRS). We designed universal targeting vectors, by use of which the strain that inserts the VRS at a desired site is acquired. Meiotic induction of the strains provided unidirectional gene conversions and frequent genetic rearrangements of flanking genes with little impact on cell viability. This system thus opens the way for the designed modulation of meiotic gene rearrangements, regardless of recombinational activity of chromosomal domains. Finally, the VDE-VRS system enabled us to conduct meiosis-specific conditional knockout of genes where VDE-initiated gene conversion disrupts the target gene during meiosis, serving as a novel approach to examine the functions of genes during germination of resultant spores.