Grelon, M. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2023

Rapid meiotic prophase chromosome movements in Arabidopsis thaliana are linked to essential reorganization at the nuclear envelope

Meiotic rapid prophase chromosome movements (RPMs) require connections between the chromosomes and the cytoskeleton, involving SUN (Sad1/UNC-84)-domain-containing proteins at the inner nuclear envelope (NE). RPMs remain significantly understudied in plants, notably with respect to their importance in the regulation of meiosis. Here, we demonstrate that Arabidopsis thaliana meiotic centromeres undergo rapid (up to 500 nm/s) and uncoordinated movements during the zygotene and pachytene stages. RPMs are not affected by altered chromosome organization and recombination but are abolished in the double mutant sun1 sun2. We also document the changes in chromosome dynamics and nucleus organization during the transition from leptotene to zygotene, including telomere attachment to SUN-enriched NE domains, bouquet formation, and nucleolus displacement, all of which were defective in sun1 sun2. These results establish A. thaliana as a new model species for studying the functional implications of meiotic RPMs and demonstrate the mechanistic conservation of telomere-led RPMs in plants.

genetics↗

bioRxiv2022

Dual control of meiotic crossover patterning

Most meiotic crossovers (COs), called class I crossovers, are produced by a conserved pathway catalyzed by the ZMM proteins; COs are limited in number, typically to 1-3 per chromosome, and are prevented from occurring close to one other by crossover interference1-3. In many species, CO number is subject to dimorphism between males and females, and a lower CO number is associated with shorter chromosome axes and stronger interference4. How the patterning of COs is imposed, however, remains poorly understood. Here, we show that overexpression of the ZMM protein HEI10 increases COs and reduces crossover interference but maintains sexual dimorphism; shorter axes length in female meiosis is still associated with fewer COs and stronger interference than in male meiocytes. Disrupting the synaptonemal complex (SC) by mutating ZYP1 also leads to an increase in class I COs but, in contrast, abolishes interference and disrupts the link between chromosome axis length and COs, with female and male meiocytes having the same CO frequency despite different axis lengths. Combining HEI10 overexpression and zyp1 mutation leads to a massive increase in class I COs and absence of interference, while axes lengths are still unaffected. These observations support, and can be effectively predicted by, a recently proposed coarsening model5,6 in which HEI10 diffusion is funneled by the central element of the SC before coarsening into large, well-spaced CO-promoting droplets. Given the conservation of the components, this model may account for CO patterning in many eukaryotes.

genetics↗