title: The HORMA domain: an evolutionarily conserved domain discovered in chromatin-associated proteins, has unanticipated diverse functions.
abstract: The HORMA domain (for Hop1p, Rev7p and MAD2) was discovered in three chromatin-associated proteins in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This domain has also been found in proteins with similar functions in organisms including plants, animals and nematodes. The HORMA domain containing proteins are thought to function as adaptors for meiotic checkpoint protein signaling and in the regulation of meiotic recombination. Surprisingly, new work has disclosed completely unanticipated and diverse functions for the HORMA domain containing proteins. A. M. Villeneuve and colleagues (Schvarzstein et al., 2013) show that meiosis-specific HORMA domain containing proteins plays a vital role in preventing centriole disengagement during Caenorhabditis elegans spermatocyte meiosis. Another recent study reveals that S. cerevisiae Atg13 HORMA domain acts as a phosphorylation-dependent conformational switch in the cellular autophagic process.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India. Electronic address: kmbc@biochem.iisc.ernet.in.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Muniyappa
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India.
authors.forename: Rucha
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kshirsagar
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India.
authors.forename: Indrajeet
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ghodke
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002843:Chromatin / Q000378:metabolism; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D006801:Humans; D054730:Protein Interaction Domains and Motifs
chemical_list: D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D002843:Chromatin
keywords: Autophagy; Centriole disengagement; Chromosome pairing; HORMA domain; Synaptonemal complex