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The spindle checkpoint rescues the meiotic segregation of chromosomes whose crossovers are far from the centromere

Nature Genetics volume 39, pages 1273–1277 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Improper meiotic chromosome segregation causes conditions such as Down's syndrome1. Recombination promotes proper chromosome segregation in meiosis I; chromosomes without crossovers near the centromere are more likely to segregate to the same spindle pole (nondisjoin). Here we have used budding yeast to determine whether the spindle checkpoint promotes segregation of such chromosomes. In checkpoint-defective mad2Δ cells, properly segregating chromosomes have more crossovers near the centromere than their wild-type counterparts, and an artificial tether that holds chromosomes together suppresses nondisjunction as long as the tether is near the centromere. The tether partially rescues the segregation of chromosomes that lack crossovers.

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Figure 1: Visualizing meiosis in yeast.
Figure 2: Chromosomes that disjoin properly in mad2Δ cells have more crossovers near the centromere as compared with wild-type cells.
Figure 3: The tetramerizing Lac repressor suppresses meiotic nondisjunction in mad2Δ cells.

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Acknowledgements

We thank A. Amon, D. Dawson, M. Dorer, R.S. Hawley, J. Leu, T. Salmon, F. Solomon and members of the Murray laboratory for critical reading of the manuscript; D. Dawson, J. Leu, A. Segrè and D. Thompson for discussions; and S. Keeney (Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center) and D. Dawson (Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation) for strains. This work was supported by a US National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Research Service Award fellowship to S.L. and an NIH grant to A.W.M. (GM 055840).

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  1. Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, 16 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, 02138, Massachusetts, USA

    Soni Lacefield & Andrew W Murray

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  1. Soni Lacefield
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Correspondence to Soni Lacefield.

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Lacefield, S., Murray, A. The spindle checkpoint rescues the meiotic segregation of chromosomes whose crossovers are far from the centromere. Nat Genet 39, 1273–1277 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng2120

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