Reference - PMID:31811152 - Chromosome-associated RNA-protein complexes promote pairing of homologous chromosomes during meiosis in Schizosaccharomyces pombe.
Reference summary
- PubMed ID
- PMID:31811152
- Title
- Chromosome-associated RNA-protein complexes promote pairing of homologous chromosomes during meiosis in Schizosaccharomyces pombe.
- Authors
- Ding DQ, Okamasa K, Katou Y, Oya E, Nakayama JI, Chikashige Y, Shirahige K, Haraguchi T, Hiraoka Y
- Citation
- Nat Commun 2019 Dec 06;10(1):5598
- Publication year
- 2019
- Abstract
- Pairing of homologous chromosomes in meiosis is essential for sexual reproduction. We have previously demonstrated that the fission yeast sme2 RNA, a meiosis-specific long noncoding RNA (lncRNA), accumulates at the sme2 chromosomal loci and mediates their robust pairing in meiosis. However, the mechanisms underlying lncRNA-mediated homologous pairing have remained elusive. In this study, we identify conserved RNA-binding proteins that are required for robust pairing of homologous chromosomes. These proteins accumulate mainly at the sme2 and two other chromosomal loci together with meiosis-specific lncRNAs transcribed from these loci. Remarkably, the chromosomal accumulation of these lncRNA-protein complexes is required for robust pairing. Moreover, the lncRNA-protein complexes exhibit phase separation properties, since 1,6-hexanediol treatment reversibly disassembled these complexes and disrupted the pairing of associated loci. We propose that lncRNA-protein complexes assembled at specific chromosomal loci mediate recognition and subsequent pairing of homologous chromosomes.
