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First published online 8 July 2008
doi: 10.1242/jcs.033233

Journal of Cell Science 121, 2445-2451 (2008)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2008
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Research Article

Progression of meiotic recombination requires structural maturation of the central element of the synaptonemal complex

Geert Hamer1, Hong Wang1, Ewelina Bolcun-Filas2, Howard J. Cooke2, Ricardo Benavente3 and Christer Höög1,*

1 Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Karolinska Institute, Berzelius väg 35, Stockholm, SE-171 77, Sweden
2 Medical Research Council Human Genetics Unit, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, Scotland, UK
3 Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Biocenter of the University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, Würzburg 97074, Germany

* Author for correspondence (e-mail: Christer.Hoog{at}ki.se)

Accepted 8 May 2008

The synaptonemal complex is an elaborate meiosis-specific supramolecular protein assembly that promotes chromosome synapsis and meiotic recombination. We inactivated the meiosis-specific gene Tex12 and found that TEX12 is essential for progression of meiosis in both male and female germ cells. Structural analysis of the synaptonemal complex in Tex12–/– meiocytes revealed a disrupted central element structure, a dense structure residing between the synapsed homologous chromosomes. Chromosome synapsis is initiated at multiple positions along the paired homologous chromosomes in Tex12–/– meiotic cells, but fails to propagate along the chromosomes. Furthermore, although meiotic recombination is initiated in Tex12–/– meiotic cells, these early recombination events do not develop into meiotic crossovers. Hence, the mere initiation of synapsis is not sufficient to support meiotic crossing-over. Our results show that TEX12 is a component of the central element structure of the synaptonemal complex required for propagation of synapsis along the paired homologous chromosomes and maturation of early recombination events into crossovers.

Key words: Chromosome synapsis, Meiosis, Meiotic recombination, Synaptonemal complex, TEX12


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TEX12: zipping chromosomes up

JCS 2008 121: 1502. [Full Text]  





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