HAL-2 promotes homologous pairing during Caenorhabditis elegans meiosis by antagonizing inhibitory effects of synaptonemal complex precursors.

ABSTRACT: During meiosis, chromosomes align with their homologous pairing partners and stabilize this alignment through assembly of the synaptonemal complex (SC). Since the SC assembles cooperatively yet is indifferent to homology, pairing and SC assembly must be tightly coordinated. We identify HAL-2 as a key mediator in this coordination, showing that HAL-2 promotes pairing largely by preventing detrimental effects of SC precursors (SYP proteins). hal-2 mutants fail to establish pairing and lack multiple markers of chromosome movement mediated by pairing centers (PCs), chromosome sites that link chromosomes to cytoplasmic microtubules through nuclear envelope-spanning complexes. Moreover, SYP proteins load inappropriately along individual unpaired chromosomes in hal-2 mutants, and markers of PC-de

SUBMITTER: Zhang W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3415444 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature