Synapsis-defective mutants reveal a correlation between chromosome conformation and the mode of double-strand break repair during Caenorhabditis elegans meiosis.

Synapsis-defective mutants reveal a correlation between chromosome conformation and the mode of double-strand break repair during C. elegans meiosis

Relationship of DNA double-strand breaks to synapsis in Drosophila.

The relationship between synaptonemal complex formation (synapsis) and double-strand break formation (recombination initiation) differs between organisms. Although double-strand break creation is required for normal synapsis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the mouse, it is not necessary for synapsis in Drosophila and Caenorhabditis elegans. To investigate the timing of and requirements for doub...

Bisphenol A impairs the double-strand break repair machinery in the germline and causes chromosome abnormalities.

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a highly prevalent constituent of plastics that has been associated with diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and an increased risk of miscarriages in humans. In mice, BPA exposure disrupts the process of meiosis; however, analysis of the affected molecular pathways is lagging and has been particularly challenging. Here we show that exposure of the nematode Caenorhabditis eleg...

A Defective Meiotic Outcome of a Failure in Homologous Pairing and Synapsis Is Masked by Meiotic Quality Control

Successful gamete production is ensured by meiotic quality control, a process in which germ cells that fail in bivalent chromosome formation are eliminated during meiotic prophase. To date, numerous meiotic mutants have been isolated in a variety of model organisms, using defects associated with a failure in bivalent formation as hallmarks of the mutant. Presumably, the meiotic quality control ...

Functional analysis of maize RAD51 in meiosis and double-strand break repair.

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Rad51p plays a central role in homologous recombination and the repair of double-strand breaks (DSBs). Double mutants of the two Zea mays L. (maize) rad51 homologs are viable and develop well under normal conditions, but are male sterile and have substantially reduced seed set. Light microscopic analyses of male meiosis in these plants reveal reduced homologous pair...