The nuclear envelope protein Matefin/SUN-1 is required for homologous pairing in C. elegans meiosis.
We identify a highly specific mutation (jf18) in the Caenorhabditis elegans nuclear envelope protein matefin MTF-1/SUN-1 that provides direct evidence for active involvement of the nuclear envelope in homologous chromosome pairing in C. elegans meiosis. The reorganization of chromatin in early meiosis is disrupted in mtf-1/sun-1(jf18) gonads, concomitant with the absence of presynaptic homolog alignment. Synapsis is established precociously and nonhomologously. Wild-type leptotene/zygotene nuclei show patch-like aggregations of the ZYG-12 protein, which fail to develop in mtf-1/sun-1(jf18) mutants. These patches remarkably colocalize with a component of the cis-acting chromosomal pairing center (HIM-8) rather than the centrosome. Our data on this mtf-1/sun-1 allele challenge the previously postulated role of the centrosome/spindle organizing center in chromosome pairing, and clearly support a role for MTF-1/SUN-1 in meiotic chromosome reorganization and in homolog recognition, possibly by mediating local aggregation of the ZYG-12 protein in meiotic nuclei.
Penkner
Alexandra
A
Department of Chromosome Biology, Max F. Perutz Laboratories, University of Vienna, A-1030 Vienna, Austria.
Tang
Lois
L
Novatchkova
Maria
M
Ladurner
Markus
M
Fridkin
Alexandra
A
Gruenbaum
Yosef
Y
Schweizer
Dieter
D
Loidl
Josef
J
Jantsch
Verena
V
D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D017209:Apoptosis; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D023902:Chromosome Pairing; D004261:DNA Replication; D006066:Gonads / Q000378:metabolism; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D008540:Meiosis; D009685:Nuclear Envelope / Q000378:metabolism*; D021381:Protein Transport; D018160:Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D011995:Recombination, Genetic
D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D018160:Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear; C514114:sun-1 protein, C elegans