Distinct temporal requirements for autophagy and the proteasome in yeast meiosis

Meiosis is a special type of cellular renovation that involves 2 successive cell divisions and a single round of DNA replication. Two major degradation systems, the autophagy-lysosome and the ubiquitin-proteasome, are involved in meiosis, but their roles have yet to be elucidated. Here we show that autophagy mainly affects the initiation of meiosis but not the nuclear division. Autophagy works not only by serving as a dynamic recycling system but also by eliminating some negative meiotic regulators such as Ego4 (Ynr034w-a). In a quantitative proteomics study, the proteasome was found to be significantly upregulated during meiotic divisions. We found that proteasomal activity is essential to the 2 successive meiotic nuclear divisions but not for the initiation of meiosis. Our study defines the roles of autophagy and the proteasome in meiosis: Autophagy mainly affects the initiation of meiosis, whereas the proteasome mainly affects the 2 successive meiotic divisions.