Rapid homologue juxtaposition during meiotic chromosome pairing.

A central feature of meiosis is the pairing of homologous maternal and paternal chromosomes ('homologues') along their lengths. Recognition between homologues and their juxtaposition in space is mediated by axis-associated recombination complexes. Also, pairing must occur without entanglements among unrelated chromosomes.

Rapid Homolog Juxtaposition During Meiotic Chromosome Pairing.

A central basic feature of meiosis is pairing of homologous maternal and paternal chromosomes ("homologs") intimately along their lengths. Recognition between homologs and their juxtaposition in space are mediated by axis-associated DNA recombination complexes. Additional effects ensure that pairing occurs without ultimately giving entanglements among unrelated chromosomes.

Crossover Interference Mediates Multiscale Patterning Along Meiotic Chromosomes.

The classical phenomenon of crossover interference is a one-dimensional spatial patterning process that produces evenly spaced crossovers during meiosis. Quantitative analysis of diagnostic molecules along budding yeast chromosomes reveals that this process also sets up a second, interdigitated pattern of related but longer periodicity, in a "two-tiered" patterning process. The second tier corresponds to a previously mysterious minority set of crossovers.

Four-dimensional imaging of E. coli nucleoid organization and dynamics in living cells.

Visualization of living E. coli nucleoids, defined by HupA-mCherry, reveals a discrete, dynamic helical ellipsoid. Three basic features emerge.

Sister cohesion and structural axis components mediate homolog bias of meiotic recombination.

Meiotic double-strand break (DSB)-initiated recombination must occur between homologous maternal and paternal chromosomes ("homolog bias"), even though sister chromatids are present. Through physical recombination analyses, we show that sister cohesion, normally mediated by meiotic cohesin Rec8, promotes "sister bias"; that meiosis-specific axis components Red1/Mek1kinase counteract this effect, thereby satisfying an essential precondition for homolog bias; and that other components, probably recombinosome-related, directly ensure homolog partner selection. Later, Rec8 acts positively to ensure maintenance of bias.

PR65, the HEAT-repeat scaffold of phosphatase PP2A, is an elastic connector that links force and catalysis.

PR65 is the two-layered (alpha-alpha solenoid) HEAT-repeat (Huntingtin, elongation factor 3, a subunit of protein phosphatase 2A, PI3 kinase target of rapamycin 1) scaffold of protein phosphatase PP2A. Molecular dynamics simulations predict that, at forces expected in living systems, PR65 undergoes (visco-)elastic deformations in response to pulling/pushing on its ends. At lower forces, smooth global flexural and torsional changes occur via even redistribution of stress along the hydrophobic core of the molecule.

Real-time imaging of meiotic chromosomes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Important information on cellular physiology can be obtained by directly observing living cells. The nucleus, and the chromatin within, is of particular interest to many researchers. Monitoring the behavior of specific DNA loci in the living cell is now commonly achieved through the insertion of binding sites for fluorescently tagged proteins at the sequence of interest (e.

Assaying chromosome pairing by FISH analysis of spread Saccharomyces cerevisiae nuclei.

Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) provides a powerful tool to study the localization of DNA sequences in relationship to one another. FISH has the advantage over other methods, notably use of GFP-tagged repressor/operator arrays, that an almost unlimited number of probes can be utilized without having to make new strains for each new locus one wants to study. Also, the number of sites that can be visualized at the same time is limited only by the number of fluorophores that are available and can be distinguished by the available microscope.

Csm4, in collaboration with Ndj1, mediates telomere-led chromosome dynamics and recombination during yeast meiosis.

Chromosome movements are a general feature of mid-prophase of meiosis. In budding yeast, meiotic chromosomes exhibit dynamic movements, led by nuclear envelope (NE)-associated telomeres, throughout the zygotene and pachytene stages. Zygotene motion underlies the global tendency for colocalization of NE-associated chromosome ends in a "bouquet.

Tsr-GFP accumulates linearly with time at cell poles, and can be used to differentiate 'old' versus 'new' poles, in Escherichia coli.

In Escherichia coli, the chemotaxis receptor protein Tsr localizes abundantly to cell poles. The current study, utilizing a Tsr-GFP fusion protein and time-lapse fluorescence microscopy of individual cell lineages, demonstrates that Tsr accumulates approximately linearly with time at the cell poles and that, in consequence, more Tsr is present at the old pole of each cell than at its newborn pole. The rate of pole-localized Tsr accumulation is large enough that old and new poles can always be reliably distinguished, even for cells whose old poles have had only one generation to accumulate signal.