biostudies-literatureBlazickova JAustrian Science Fund FWFGrantová Agentura České Republiky (Grant Agency of the Czech Republic)2516https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC11906835biostudies-literatureUnknown16(1)Faithful meiotic segregation requires pairwise alignment of the homologous chromosomes and their synaptonemal complex (SC) mediated stabilization. Here, we investigate factors that promote and coordinate these events during C. elegans meiosis. We identify BRA-2 (BMP Receptor Associated family member 2) as an interactor of HIM-17, previously shown to promote double-strand break formation. We found that loss of bra-2 impairs synapsis elongation without affecting homolog recognition, chromosome movement or SC maintenance. Epistasis analyses reveal previously unrecognized activities for HIM-17 in regulating homolog pairing and SC assembly in a partially overlapping manner with BRA-2. We show that removing bra-2 or him-17 restores nuclear clustering, recruitment of PLK-2 at the nuclear peripherNature communicationsOverlapping and separable activities of BRA-2 and HIM-17 promote occurrence and regulation of pairing and synapsis during Caenorhabditis elegans meiosis.PMC11906835GA23-04918SF 8805Subah SYanowitz JLJantsch VBlazickova JTrivedi SChandran URZetka MSilva NChang ASivakumar Geetha SSmolikove SScuzzarella MBowman RfalseOverlapping and separable activities of BRA-2 and HIM-17 promote occurrence and regulation of pairing and synapsis during Caenorhabditis elegans meiosis.Faithful meiotic segregation requires pairwise alignment of the homologous chromosomes and their synaptonemal complex (SC) mediated stabilization. Here, we investigate factors that promote and coordinate these events during C. elegans meiosis. We identify BRA-2 (BMP Receptor Associated family member 2) as an interactor of HIM-17, previously shown to promote double-strand break formation. We found that loss of bra-2 impairs synapsis elongation without affecting homolog recognition, chromosome movement or SC maintenance. Epistasis analyses reveal previously unrecognized activities for HIM-17 in regulating homolog pairing and SC assembly in a partially overlapping manner with BRA-2. We show that removing bra-2 or him-17 restores nuclear clustering, recruitment of PLK-2 at the nuclear peripher2025-01-01T00:00:00Z2025 Mar2025-04-26T05:52:09.186Z2025-04-06T11:39:27.425ZS-EPMC119068354008242410.1038/s41467-025-57862-y