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A Mec1- and PP4-Dependent checkpoint couples centromere pairing to meiotic recombination

Jill E. Falk, Andrew Chi ho Chan, Eva Hoffmann, Andreas Hochwagen*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

90 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The faithful alignment of homologous chromosomes during meiotic prophase requires the coordination of DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair with large-scale chromosome reorganization. Here we identify the phosphatase PP4 (Pph3/Psy2) as a mediator of this process in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In pp4 mutants, early stages of crossover repair and homology-independent pairing of centromeres are coordinately blocked. We traced the loss of centromere pairing to the persistent phosphorylation of the chromosomal protein Zip1 on serine 75. Zip1-S75 is a consensus site for the ATR-like checkpoint kinase Mec1, and centromere pairing is restored in mec1 mutants. Importantly, Zip1-S75 phosphorylation does not alter chromosome synapsis or DSB repair, indicating that Mec1 separates centromere pairing from the other functions of Zip1. The centromeric localization and persistent activity of PP4 during meiotic prophase suggest a model whereby Zip1-S75 phosphorylation dynamically destabilizes homology-independent centromere pairing in response to recombination initiation, thereby coupling meiotic chromosome dynamics to DSB repair.

Original languageEnglish
JournalDevelopmental Cell
Volume19
Issue number4
Pages (from-to)599-611
Number of pages13
ISSN1534-5807
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 19 Oct 2010

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We are grateful to N. Hunter, S. Roeder, N. Hollingsworth, F. Klein, S. Brill, and A. Desai for sharing strains and reagents for this project and to D. Durocher and F. Klein for sharing unpublished results. We thank G. Bell for help with statistical analyses and B. Joughin, A. Amon, I. Cheeseman, T. Orr-Weaver, and members of the Hochwagen lab for helpful discussions and critical reading of the manuscript. This work was supported in part by research grant 5-FY10-149 from the March of Dimes Foundation and grants from The Stewart Trust and The Smith Family Foundation to A.H.

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