1
|
Lee L, Rosin LF. Uncharted territories: Solving the mysteries of male meiosis in flies. PLoS Genet 2024; 20:e1011185. [PMID: 38489251 PMCID: PMC10942038 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1011185] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/17/2024] Open
Abstract
The segregation of homologous chromosomes during meiosis typically requires tight end-to-end chromosome pairing. However, in Drosophila spermatogenesis, male flies segregate their chromosomes without classic synaptonemal complex formation and without recombination, instead compartmentalizing homologs into subnuclear domains known as chromosome territories (CTs). How homologs find each other in the nucleus and are separated into CTs has been one of the biggest riddles in chromosome biology. Here, we discuss our current understanding of pairing and CT formation in flies and review recent data on how homologs are linked and partitioned during meiosis in male flies.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- LingSze Lee
- Unit on Chromosome Dynamics, Division of Developmental Biology, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Leah F. Rosin
- Unit on Chromosome Dynamics, Division of Developmental Biology, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Xiang Y, Tsuchiya D, Yu Z, Zhao X, McKinney S, Unruh J, Slaughter B, Lake CM, Hawley RS. Multiple reorganizations of the lateral elements of the synaptonemal complex facilitate homolog segregation in Bombyx mori oocytes. Curr Biol 2024; 34:352-360.e4. [PMID: 38176417 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.12.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2023] [Revised: 11/29/2023] [Accepted: 12/07/2023] [Indexed: 01/06/2024]
Abstract
Although Lepidopteran females build a synaptonemal complex (SC) in pachytene, homologs do not crossover, necessitating an alternative method of homolog conjunction. In Bombyx mori oocytes, the SC breaks down at the end of pachytene, and homolog associations are maintained by a large oocyte-specific structure, which we call the bivalent bridge (BB), connecting paired homologs. The BB is derived from at least some components of the SC lateral elements (LEs). It contains the HORMAD protein HOP1 and the LE protein SYCP2 and is formed by the fusion of the two LE derivatives. As diplotene progresses, the BB increases in width and acquires a layered structure with a thick band of HOP1 separating two layers of SYCP2. The HOP1 interacting protein, PCH2, joins the BB in mid-diplotene, and by late-diplotene, it lies in the middle of the HOP1 filament. This structure is maintained through metaphase I. SYCP2 and PCH2 are lost at anaphase I, and the BB no longer connects the separating homologs. However, a key component of the BB, HOP1, remains at the metaphase I plate. These changes in organization of the BB occur simultaneously with the movement of the kinetochore protein, DSN1, from within the BB at mid-diplotene to the edge of the homologs facing the poles by metaphase I. We view these data in context of models in which SC components and regulators can be repurposed to achieve different functions, a fascinating example of evolution achieving homolog conjunction in an alternative way with recycling of SC proteins.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Youbin Xiang
- Stowers Institute for Medical Research, 1000 E. 50th Street, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA
| | - Dai Tsuchiya
- Stowers Institute for Medical Research, 1000 E. 50th Street, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA
| | - Zulin Yu
- Stowers Institute for Medical Research, 1000 E. 50th Street, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA
| | - Xia Zhao
- Stowers Institute for Medical Research, 1000 E. 50th Street, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA
| | - Sean McKinney
- Stowers Institute for Medical Research, 1000 E. 50th Street, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA
| | - Jay Unruh
- Stowers Institute for Medical Research, 1000 E. 50th Street, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA
| | - Brian Slaughter
- Stowers Institute for Medical Research, 1000 E. 50th Street, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA
| | - Cathleen M Lake
- Stowers Institute for Medical Research, 1000 E. 50th Street, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA
| | - R Scott Hawley
- Stowers Institute for Medical Research, 1000 E. 50th Street, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA; Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, University of Kansas Medical Center, 3901 Rainbow Boulevard, Kansas City, MO 66160, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Li P, Messina G, Lehner CF. Nuclear elongation during spermiogenesis depends on physical linkage of nuclear pore complexes to bundled microtubules by Drosophila Mst27D. PLoS Genet 2023; 19:e1010837. [PMID: 37428798 PMCID: PMC10359004 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1010837] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2023] [Accepted: 06/22/2023] [Indexed: 07/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Spermatozoa in animal species are usually highly elongated cells with a long motile tail attached to a head that contains the haploid genome in a compact and often elongated nucleus. In Drosophila melanogaster, the nucleus is compacted two hundred-fold in volume during spermiogenesis and re-modeled into a needle that is thirty-fold longer than its diameter. Nuclear elongation is preceded by a striking relocalization of nuclear pore complexes (NPCs). While NPCs are initially located throughout the nuclear envelope (NE) around the spherical nucleus of early round spermatids, they are later confined to one hemisphere. In the cytoplasm adjacent to this NPC-containing NE, the so-called dense complex with a strong bundle of microtubules is assembled. While this conspicuous proximity argued for functional significance of NPC-NE and microtubule bundle, experimental confirmation of their contributions to nuclear elongation has not yet been reported. Our functional characterization of the spermatid specific Mst27D protein now resolves this deficit. We demonstrate that Mst27D establishes physical linkage between NPC-NE and dense complex. The C-terminal region of Mst27D binds to the nuclear pore protein Nup358. The N-terminal CH domain of Mst27D, which is similar to that of EB1 family proteins, binds to microtubules. At high expression levels, Mst27D promotes bundling of microtubules in cultured cells. Microscopic analyses indicated co-localization of Mst27D with Nup358 and with the microtubule bundles of the dense complex. Time-lapse imaging revealed that nuclear elongation is accompanied by a progressive bundling of microtubules into a single elongated bundle. In Mst27D null mutants, this bundling process does not occur and nuclear elongation is abnormal. Thus, we propose that Mst27D permits normal nuclear elongation by promoting the attachment of the NPC-NE to the microtubules of the dense complex, as well as the progressive bundling of these microtubules.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Pengfei Li
- Department of Molecular Life Science (DMLS), University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Giovanni Messina
- Department of Molecular Life Science (DMLS), University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Christian F Lehner
- Department of Molecular Life Science (DMLS), University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|