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A conserved checkpoint monitors meiotic chromosome synapsis in Caenorhabditis elegans
Needhi Bhalla1, Abby F Dernburg
1Life Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
Abstract:
We report the discovery of a checkpoint that monitors synapsis between homologous chromosomes to ensure accurate meiotic segregation. Oocytes containing unsynapsed chromosomes selectively undergo apoptosis even if a germline DNA damage checkpoint is inactivated. This culling mechanism is specifically activated by unsynapsed pairing centers, cis-acting chromosome sites that are also required to promote synapsis in Caenorhabditis elegans. Apoptosis due to synaptic failure also requires the C. elegans homolog of PCH2, a budding yeast pachytene checkpoint gene, which suggests that this surveillance mechanism is widely conserved.
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