Molecular biology. The mad ways of meiosis.
Reproductive cells that are destined to become sperm or egg undergo meiotic division during which the chromosome number is halved. As Sluder and McCollum explain in their Perspective, new findings (Shonn et al.) in yeast show that there is a spindle checkpoint that operates during meiosis to ensure that an equal number of replicated chromosomes arrives at each pole of the cell. One of the components of this meiotic spindle checkpoint turns out to be Mad2, which gives the signal to halt meiosis if it looks like unequal chromosome segregation is taking place.
Sluder
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Department of Cell Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01655, USA. greenfield.sluder@umassmed.edu
McCollum
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D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D025063:Chromosome Disorders; D020090:Chromosome Segregation; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008540:Meiosis / Q000502:physiology*; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D004718:Saccharomycetales / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D015398:Signal Transduction
D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D009687:Nuclear Proteins