title: Microtubules and Alp7-Alp14 (TACC-TOG) reposition chromosomes before meiotic segregation.
abstract: Tethering kinetochores at spindle poles facilitates their efficient capture and segregation by microtubules at mitotic onset in yeast. During meiotic prophase of fission yeast, however, kinetochores are detached from the poles, which facilitates meiotic recombination but may cause a risk of chromosome mis-segregation during meiosis. How cells circumvent this dilemma remains unclear. Here we show that an extensive microtubule array assembles from the poles at meiosis I onset and retrieves scattered kinetochores towards the poles to prevent chromosome drift. Moreover, the microtubule-associated protein complex Alp7-Alp14 (the fission yeast orthologues of mammalian TACC-TOG) is phosphorylated by Polo kinase, which promotes its meiosis-specific association to the outer kinetochore complex Nuf2-Ndc80 of scattered kinetochores, thereby assisting in capturing remote kinetochores. Although TOG was recently characterized as a microtubule polymerase, Dis1 (the other TOG orthologue in fission yeast), together with the Dam1 complex, plays a role in microtubule shortening to pull kinetochores polewards. Thus, microtubules and their binding proteins uniquely reconstitute chromosome configuration during meiosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biophysics and Biochemistry, Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Tokyo 113-0032, Japan.
authors.forename: Yasutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kakui
authors.forename: Masamitsu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Naoyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Toda
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
mesh_terms: D020090:Chromosome Segregation; D018386:Kinetochores / Q000378:metabolism*; D008540:Meiosis / Q000502:physiology*; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008870:Microtubules / Q000378:metabolism*; D008938:Mitosis / Q000502:physiology; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D010766:Phosphorylation; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012568:Schizosaccharomyces / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D029702:Schizosaccharomyces pombe Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008941:Spindle Apparatus / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: C479626:Alp7 protein, S pombe; C527984:Dam1 protein, S pombe; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins; C575627:NDC80 protein, S pombe; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D029702:Schizosaccharomyces pombe Proteins; C432090:alp14 protein, S pombe; C094879:dis1 protein, S pombe; C490196:nuf2 protein, S pombe; C501407:Plo1 protein, S pombe; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases