Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 5, 2026

Examination of Mitotic and Meiotic Fission Yeast Nuclear Dynamics by Fluorescence Live-cell Microscopy
Published on: June 24, 2019
Rapid telomere movement in meiotic prophase is promoted by NDJ1, MPS3, and CSM4 and is modulated by recombination
Michael N Conrad1, Chih-Ying Lee, Gene Chao
1Program in Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, OK 73104, USA.
Abstract:
Haploidization of the genome in meiosis requires that chromosomes be sorted exclusively into pairs stabilized by synaptonemal complexes (SCs) and crossovers. This sorting and pairing is accompanied by active chromosome positioning in meiotic prophase in which telomeres cluster near the spindle pole to form the bouquet before dispersing around the nuclear envelope. We now describe telomere-led rapid prophase movements (RPMs) that frequently exceed 1 microm/s and persist throughout meiotic prophase. Bouquet formation and RPMs depend on NDJ1, MPS3, and a new member of this pathway, CSM4, which encodes a meiosis-specific nuclear envelope protein required specifically for telomere mobility. RPMs initiate independently of recombination but differ quantitatively in mutants that fail to complete recombination, suggesting that RPMs respond to recombination status. Together with recombination defects described for ndj1, our observations suggest that RPMs and SCs balance the disruption and stabilization of recombinational interactions, respectively, to regulate crossing over.
Related Concept Videos
Telomeres and Telomerase
Replicative Cell Senescence
Forces Acting on Chromosomes
Microtubules and motor proteins exert two types of forces on...
Separation of Sister Chromatids
At the onset of anaphase, separase, a proteolytic enzyme, is...
The Spindle Assembly Checkpoint
Many proteins function together to control the spindle assembly checkpoint. Mutations affecting these proteins may allow cells to proceed into anaphase prematurely, resulting in the...
Meiosis II
The timing and cell division patterns of meiosis differ between males and females. In male meiosis, the centrosomes are part of the formation of the meiotic spindle. However, in oocytes, including that of humans, Drosophila,...

