Polo kinases establish links between meiotic chromosomes and cytoskeletal forces essential for homolog pairing.
During meiosis, chromosomes must find and align with their homologous partners. SUN and KASH-domain protein pairs play a conserved role by establishing transient linkages between chromosome ends and cytoskeletal forces across the intact nuclear envelope (NE). In C. elegans, a pairing center (PC) on each chromosome mediates homolog pairing and linkage to the microtubule network. We report that the polo kinases PLK-1 and PLK-2 are targeted to the PC by ZIM/HIM-8-pairing proteins. Loss of plk-2 inhibits chromosome pairing and licenses synapsis between nonhomologous chromosomes, indicating that PLK-2 is required for PC-mediated interhomolog interactions. plk-2 is also required for meiosis-specific phosphorylation of SUN-1 and establishment of dynamic SUN/KASH (SUN-1/ZYG-12) modules that promote homolog pairing. Our results provide key insights into the regulation of homolog pairing and reveal that targeting of polo-like kinases to the NE by meiotic chromosomes establishes the conserved linkages to cytoskeletal forces needed for homology assessment.
Department of Biology, McGill University, 1205 avenue Docteur Penfield, Montreal, Quebec H2A 1B1, Canada.
Sara
S
Labella
Alexander
A
Woglar
Verena
V
Jantsch
Monique
M
Zetka
D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000235:genetics*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D023902:Chromosome Pairing / Q000235:genetics*; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D008540:Meiosis / Q000235:genetics*; D009685:Nuclear Envelope / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000097869:Polo-Like Kinase 1; D000097868:Polo-like Kinases
D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D000097869:Polo-Like Kinase 1; C569597:polo-like kinase 2, C elegans; D000097868:Polo-like Kinases