Meiotic prophase roles of Pds5 in recombination and chromosome condensation in budding yeast

Genetic variation in eukaryotes is mediated during meiosis by the exchange of genetic material between homologous chromosomes to produce recombinant chromosomes. Cohesin is essential to promote proper chromosome segregation, chromosome morphogenesis, and recombination in meiotic cells. Cohesin consists of three main subunits-Smc1, Smc3, and the kleisin subunit Mcd1/Scc1 (Rec8 in meiosis)-and cohesin accessory factors. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the cohesin regulatory subunit Pds5 plays a role in homolog pairing, meiotic axis formation, and interhomolog recombination. In this study, we examine the prophase functions of Pds5 by performing physical analysis of recombination and three-dimensional high-resolution microscopy analysis to identify its roles in meiosis-specific recombination and chromosome morphogenesis. To investigate whether Pds5 plays a role in mitotic-like recombination, we inhibited Mek1 kinase activity, which resulted in switching to sister template bias by Rad51-dependent recombination. Reductions in double-strand breaks and crossover products and defective interhomolog recombination occurred in the absence of Pds5. Furthermore, recombination intermediates, including single-end invasion and double-Holliday junction, were reduced in the absence of Pds5 with Mek1 kinase inactivation compared to Mek1 kinase inactivation cells. Interestingly, the absence of Pds5 resulted in increasing numbers of chromosomes with hypercompaction of the chromosome axis. Thus, we suggest that Pds5 plays an essential role in recombination by suppressing the pairing of sister chromatids and abnormal compaction of the chromosome axis.