QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

First published online 20 May 2003
doi: 10.1242/jcs.00495

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: jcs.00495v1 116/13/2781    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Lee, J. Articles by Yamashita, M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Lee, J. Articles by Yamashita, M.

Temporally and spatially selective loss of Rec8 protein from meiotic chromosomes during mammalian meiosis

Jibak Lee^*,, Toshiharu Iwai, Takehiro Yokota and Masakane Yamashita

Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Interactions, Division of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan

Author for correspondence (e-mail: leej{at}ans.kobe-u.ac.jp)

Accepted 18 March 2003

Sister chromatid cohesion is maintained from DNA replication to metaphase-to-anaphase transition by multisubunit protein complexes called cohesin, which include at least four proteins, SMC1, SMC3, Rad21 and either SA1 or SA2, in mammalian somatic cells. We report here the first evidence of the involvement of Rec8 protein, a mammalian homolog of yeast Rec8p, in meiosis-specific chromosome behavior in mammals. In immunoblotting and immunohistochemical analysis using specific antibodies against mouse Rec8, we found that Rec8 was expressed in the testis but not in the kidney or liver; more precisely, it was expressed in spermatocytes and spermatids but not in spermatogonia or other somatic cells. We also found that Rec8 is present in both phosphorylated and dephosphorylated states in vivo. Immunoprecipitation analyses revealed that Rec8 associates with other cohesin proteins, SMC1ß (meiosis-specific protein) and SMC3 and with a component of synaptonemal complexes, SCP3, but not with SMC1. In meiotic chromosome spreads, Rec8 was localized along the axial/lateral elements of the synaptonemal complexes in meiotic prophase from the leptotene to diplotene stages. At later stages, diakinesis and metaphase I, Rec8 was localized along the interstitial axes of chromosomes, including both centromere and arm regions of chromosomes. However, concomitantly with separation of homologous chromosomes in anaphase I, Rec8 was no longer detected along the arm regions, while it persisted on centromere regions up to metaphase II. In anaphase II, the centromeric signals were diminished. We propose from these results that mammalian Rec8 protein, in association with SMC3 and SMC1ß but not SMC1, is involved in meiosis-specific chromosome behavior, and that homologous chromosome separation is triggered by selective loss of Rec8 from chromosome arms in meiosis I, while sister chromatid cohesion is maintained until metaphase II/anaphase II transition by centromeric Rec8 during mammalian meiosis.

Key words: Rec8 protein, Chromosome cohesion, Sister chromatid, Homologous chromosome, Mammalian meiosis

This article has been cited by other articles:

				K. T. Jones Meiosis in oocytes: predisposition to aneuploidy and its increased incidence with age Hum. Reprod. Update, March 1, 2008; 14(2): 143 - 158. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. Nakajima, K. Kumada, K. Hatakeyama, T. Noda, J.-M. Peters, and T. Hirota The complete removal of cohesin from chromosome arms depends on separase J. Cell Sci., December 1, 2007; 120(23): 4188 - 4196. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				Z. Liu and C. A. Makaroff Arabidopsis Separase AESP Is Essential for Embryo Development and the Release of Cohesin during Meiosis PLANT CELL, May 1, 2006; 18(5): 1213 - 1225. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				B. M. Kiburz, D. B. Reynolds, P. C. Megee, A. L. Marston, B. H. Lee, T. I. Lee, S. S. Levine, R. A. Young, and A. Amon The core centromere and Sgo1 establish a 50-kb cohesin-protected domain around centromeres during meiosis I Genes & Dev., December 15, 2005; 19(24): 3017 - 3030. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. Kouznetsova, I. Novak, R. Jessberger, and C. Hoog SYCP2 and SYCP3 are required for cohesin core integrity at diplotene but not for centromere cohesion at the first meiotic division J. Cell Sci., May 15, 2005; 118(10): 2271 - 2278. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. Firooznia, E. Revenkova, and R. Jessberger From the XXVII North American Testis Workshop: The Function of SMC and Other Cohesin Proteins in Meiosis J Androl, January 1, 2005; 26(1): 1 - 10. [Full Text] [PDF]

				Y. Watanabe Modifying sister chromatid cohesion for meiosis J. Cell Sci., August 15, 2004; 117(18): 4017 - 4023. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L.-R. Zhang, J.-Y. Tao, and T. Wang Molecular characterization of OsRAD21-1, a rice homologue of yeast RAD21 essential for mitotic chromosome cohesion J. Exp. Bot., May 1, 2004; 55(399): 1149 - 1152. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				F. M. Yeong Anaphase-Promoting Complex in Caenorhabditis elegans Mol. Cell. Biol., March 15, 2004; 24(6): 2215 - 2225. [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. T. Parra, A. Viera, R. Gomez, J. Page, R. Benavente, J. L. Santos, J. S. Rufas, and J. A. Suja Involvement of the cohesin Rad21 and SCP3 in monopolar attachment of sister kinetochores during mouse meiosis I J. Cell Sci., March 1, 2004; 117(7): 1221 - 1234. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]