title: Cuf2 is a novel meiosis-specific regulatory factor of meiosis maturation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Meiosis is the specialized form of the cell cycle by which diploid cells produce the haploid gametes required for sexual reproduction. Initiation and progression through meiosis requires that the expression of the meiotic genes is precisely controlled so as to provide the correct gene products at the correct times. During meiosis, four temporal gene clusters are either induced or repressed by a cascade of transcription factors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In this report a novel copper-fist-type regulator, Cuf2, is shown to be expressed exclusively during meiosis. The expression profile of the cuf2(+) mRNA revealed that it was induced during middle-phase meiosis. Both cuf2(+) mRNA and protein levels are unregulated by copper addition or starvation. The transcription of cuf2(+) required the presence of a functional mei4(+) gene encoding a key transcription factor that activates the expression of numerous middle meiotic genes. Microscopic analyses of cells expressing a functional Cuf2-GFP protein revealed that Cuf2 co-localized with both homologous chromosomes and sister chromatids during the meiotic divisions. Cells lacking Cuf2 showed an elevated and sustained expression of several of the middle meiotic genes that persisted even during late meiosis. Moreover, cells carrying disrupted cuf2Δ/cuf2Δ alleles displayed an abnormal morphology of the forespore membranes and a dramatic reduction of spore viability.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Collectively, the results revealed that Cuf2 functions in the timely repression of the middle-phase genes during meiotic differentiation.
authors.affiliation: Département de Biochimie, Faculté de Médecine et des Sciences de la Santé Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Raphael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ioannoni
authors.forename: Jude
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Beaudoin
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lopez-Maury
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Codlin
authors.forename: Jurg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bahler
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Labbe
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000705:Anaphase; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015825:Chromosomes, Fungal / Q000235:genetics; D017353:Gene Deletion; D015966:Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal; D042541:Intracellular Space / Q000378:metabolism; D008540:Meiosis; D008677:Metaphase; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D021381:Protein Transport; D012568:Schizosaccharomyces / Q000166:cytology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D029702:Schizosaccharomyces pombe Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D013172:Spores, Fungal / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; C574673:Cuf2 protein, S pombe; D029702:Schizosaccharomyces pombe Proteins; C489539:mei4 protein, S pombe