Chromosome Segregation in Budding Yeast: Sister Chromatid Cohesion and Related Mechanisms

Studies on budding yeast have exposed the highly conserved mechanisms by which duplicated chromosomes are evenly distributed to daughter cells at the metaphase–anaphase transition. The establishment of proteinaceous bridges between sister chromatids, a function provided by a ring-shaped complex known as cohesin, is central to accurate segregation. It is the destruction of this cohesin that triggers the segregation of chromosomes following their proper attachment to microtubules. Since it is irreversible, this process must be tightly controlled and driven to completion. Furthermore, during meiosis, modifications must be put in place to allow the segregation of maternal and paternal chromosomes in the first division for gamete formation. Here, I review the pioneering work from budding yeast that has led to a molecular understanding of the establishment and destruction of cohesion.     

秦岭六种提灯藓的染色体研究

本文以藓类植物的幼嫩孢蒴及茎尖为材料,对产于中国秦岭的六种提灯藓的染色体进行了观察计数。首次报道了M．pseudolycopodioides的染色体数目为n＝6;M．marginatum和M．lycopoidioides的染色体数分别为n=12及n＝6,与前人报道的结果一致;M．Laevinerve、M．heterophyllum以及M．thomsoii的染色体数目均为n＝6,与前人的报道不完全相同。本文旨在为本属的研究提供一定的细胞学资料。     

phlb基因诱导小麦ABD染色体组部分同源染色体配对的研究

通过花药培养首次获得了“中国春”phlb突变体单倍体,同时也获得了“中国春”单倍体。对其细胞学观察表明,前者花粉母细胞减数分裂中期Ⅰ每个细胞染色体交叉为5.08个,后者为1.30个。证明了phlb基因在单倍体状态下具有强的诱导ABD染色体组部分同源染色体间的配对作用。     

Aurora A, meiosis and mitosis

The Aurora family kinases are pivotal to the successful execution of cell division. Together they ensure the formation of a bipolar mitotic spindle, accurate segregation of chromosomes and the completion of cytokinesis. They are also attractive drug targets, being frequently deregulated in cancer and able to transform cells in vitro. In this review, we summarize current knowledge about the three family members, Aur-A, Aur-B and Aur-C. We then focus on Aur-A, its roles in mitotic progression, and its emerging roles in checkpoint control pathways. Aur-A activity can be controlled at several levels, including phosphorylation, ubiquitin-dependent proteolysis and interaction with both positive regulators, such as TPX2, and negative ones, like the tumor suppressor protein p53. In addition, work in Xenopus oocytes and early embryos has revealed a second role for Aur-A, directing the polyadenylation-dependent translation of specific mRNAs important for cell cycle progression. This function extends to post-mitotic neurons, and perhaps even to cycling somatic cells.     

中国跳虫染色体和雄性减数分裂的首次观察

利用整体压片法 ,对分别隶属于球角科和长角科的两种跳虫似微小球角 (Hypogastruraadex ilis (Stach ,196 4 ) )和曲毛裸长 (SinellacurvisetaBrook 1889)的染色体进行了首次观察。发现似微小球角单倍染色体数目n =7,雄性有 13条染色体 ,雌性有 14条 ,为XO型性别决定 ;曲毛裸长n =6 ,雄性 2n =11,雌性 2n =12 ,同样为XO型性别决定。还记述了雄性似微小球角的减数分裂过程 :在分裂前期 ,同源染色体进行配对 ;部分同源染色体发生交叉 ,部分仅末端相连 ;早后期Ⅰ ,当常染色体向两极移动时 ,性染色体仍滞后于赤道板中央。     

真核生物染色体超级结构研究： Ⅰ.家猪中期染色体超级结构研究

用自行的多级光学放大系统,观察到染色体上１５ｎｍ大小的细微结构,用以研究致密状态的中期染色体超级结构,结合细胞化学技术,用特异性染色显示ＤＮＡ－核蛋白、酸性骨架蛋白在染色体上的构象,本文发表了家猪染色体超级结构的天然形态－螺旋构型照片,描述了染色体螺旋结构的特征及其参数,提出了染色体超级结构的螺旋模型。     

黄瓜花粉母细胞减数分裂行为的研究

研究了华北型、华南型和西南型黄瓜花粉母细胞的减数分裂行为,发现黄瓜细胞核减数分裂的同步性较高,细胞质是同时型分裂。在细胞核分裂的过程中,核仁在前期Ⅰ到中期Ⅰ逐渐消失,在前期Ⅰ再次出现,随后消失;染色体在前期Ⅰ到中期Ⅰ逐渐收缩,变得清晰,至末期Ⅰ解螺旋,变得模糊,在前期I再次清晰。不同生态型黄瓜终变期的染色体构型均以环状二价体为主。在前期Ⅰ和前期Ⅰ,西双版纳黄瓜的核仁都相应地比另外两种生态型黄瓜品种的多,在后期Ⅰ还偶尔出现染色体桥,显示了西双版纳黄瓜变种的特殊性。研究还发现寒冷的气候条件下栽培黄瓜都能够形成高频率的多分体,推测其形成很可能与低温逆境有关。     

A quantitative assay to measure chromosome stability in Schizosaccharomyces pombe

Summary The fidelity of mitotic chromosome transmission in Schizosaccharomyces pombe was estimated quantitatively by using cycloheximide resistance as a means to select cells that had undergone chromosome loss or nondisjunction. We aimed to investigate the connection between recombination and mitotic chromosome stability. A number of mutants defective in mitotic recombination such as cdc17-L16, rec59-72, and rec50-25 were tested and in these an approximately ten fold elevation of mitotic haploidization rate was found compared with controls. Our data suggest that recombination is important in controlling the maintenance of chromosomes during mitosis.     

木兰科含笑的细胞学研究

对含笑Michelia figo(Lour．)Spreng进行了细胞学研究。证实其染色体数目为2n=2x=38,最大与最小染色体长度比率为2．2,没发现st染色体和随体。首次观察和描述了其减数分裂行为。     

嗜热四膜虫减数分裂研究进展

减数分裂是真核生物有性生殖过程的关键步骤,染色体的行为变化贯穿整个减数分裂的过程。近些年来,借助先进的分子生物学技术和细胞学实验手段,通过对突变细胞株的筛选和评价,单细胞真核模式生物原生动物嗜热四膜虫(Tetrahymena thermophila)减数分裂方面的研究取得了长足的进展。本文主要介绍嗜热四膜虫减数分裂的过程,以及在此过程中伴随染色体行为变化的相关基因的功能,从而为进一步探讨嗜热四膜虫减数分裂的分子机制提供有效信息。     

Characterization of protein kinases in mitotic and meiotic cell extracts

A number of protein kinases have been separated and identified in extracts from mitotic and interphase culture cells and from mature and immature amphibian oocytes using nondenaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis followed by in situ phosphorylation assays. Certain of these protein kinase activities appear to correlate with the biological activity of extracts, assayed by their ability to induce meiotic maturation following injection into Xenopus oocytes. These results are consistent with the notion that protein phosphorylation/dephosphorylation may be integral to the mechanisms of both nuclear membrane breakdown and chromosome condensation, events common and distinctive to mitosis and meiosis.     

Geographical distribution and cytological variation ofLemna paucicostata Hegelm. in Japan

More than 100 strains ofLemna paucicostata Hegelm. collected from various localities in Japan were classified into 4 types according to the criterion of Yukawa and Takimoto (1976). N-1 type strains are widely distributed in Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu, N-2 type strains only in the area on the Japan Sea side of north Japan, K type strain only at the campus of Kyoto University, and S type strains in southern Japan. Numbers of chromosomes in somatic cells of N-1, N-2, K and S type strains were 2n=66–84, 40, 50 and 40, respectively. In N-2 and S type strains, all chromosomes (20 bivalent chromosomes) were lined up on the equatorial plate at metaphase of the first meiotic division (MI). However, in N-1 type strains, several chromosomes, and in the K type strain, more chromosomes were away from the equatorial plate at MI. Pollen fertility was 60–70%, higher than 90%, 0% and higher than 90%, in N-1, N-2, K and S type strains, respectively.     

A novel intergeneric hybrid in the Triticeae: Triticum aestivum x Psathyrost achys juncea

Summary Two hybrid embryos of intergeneric origin between Triticum aestivum cv Fukuho (2n=6x=42, AABBDD) and Psathyrostachys juncea (2n=2x=14, NN) were successfully rescued. One hybrid plant had the expected chromosome number of 28 (ABDN), whereas the second plant had 35 chromosomes. The average meiotic chromosome pairing in the 35-chromosome hybrid was 21.87 univalents + 6.38 bivalents + 0.11 trivalents + 0.009 quadrivalents, which indicates that two copies of the N genome were present. Chromosome pairing in the 28-chromosome hybrid was low (1.35 bivalents), and pointed out the lack of homology between the wheat genomes and the P. juncea genome. These new hybrids showed some necrosis and chlorosis, which caused severe floral abortion in the plant that had 35 chromosomes. These problems became gradually less severe after 18 months.Contrib. no. 372     

植物减数分裂染色体配对与染色体组分析的研究进展

简要介绍了植物减数分裂染色体配对研究.综述了减数分裂染色体配对研究在鉴定异源易位系、确定多倍体物种类型、分析物种间亲缘关系和物种的染色体组来源及探讨杂种不育的细胞遗传学机制等诸多方面的应用进展.分析了影响染色体配对的主要因素,如配对控制体系、遗传背景和外界环境条件等,并展望了染色体配对研究与其他技术结合在染色体组分析中的应用前景.     

Interplay between modifications of chromatin and meiotic recombination hotspots

Meiotic recombination lies at the heart of sexual reproduction. It is essential for producing viable gametes with a normal haploid genomic content and its dysfunctions can be at the source of aneuploidies, such as the Down syndrome, or many genetic disorders. Meiotic recombination also generates genetic diversity that is transmitted to progeny by shuffling maternal and paternal alleles along chromosomes. Recombination takes place at non-random chromosomal sites called 'hotspots'. Recent evidence has shown that their location is influenced by properties of chromatin. In addition, many studies in somatic cells have highlighted the need for changes in chromatin dynamics to allow the process of recombination. In this review, we discuss how changes in the chromatin landscape may influence the recombination map, and reciprocally, how recombination events may lead to epigenetic modifications at sites of recombination, which could be transmitted to progeny.     

Centrosome inheritance in the male germ line of Drosophila requires hu-li tai-shao function

Cytokinesis partitions a centrosome to each daughter cell at cell division that will duplicate and assemble a bipolar spindle in the subsequent M phase. Cytokinesis is incomplete in proliferating germ cells in Drosophila and cytoplasmic channels connect sibling germ cells. Although centrosomes are essential to male fertility, the molecular mechanism that retains centrosomes in parental germ cells is not known. Cortical cytoplasmic structures known as fusomes extend through ring canals and connect cells within the cyst. Fusome assembly in males requires function of hu-li tai-shao (hts), an adducin like protein found in fusomes and in the cortical membrane cytoskeleton of somatic cells. This work used immunological and cytological methods to place hts mutants in an allelic series. Male fertile hts mutants express hts protein and generate apparently normal or fragmented fusomes. A male sterile allele does not express hts protein or show fusome structures. Gonial cells in all hts mutants showed 2 centrosomes and mitotic spindles were bipolar. Yet, primary spermatocytes, with and without fusome structures, frequently contained too many or too few centrosomes. Although spindle structures were not found in spermatocytes without centrosomes, meiotic spermatocytes with centrosomes generated bipolar, monopolar, and multipolar spindles. Collectively, these results indicate that hts function is necessary for centrosome inheritance in spermatocytes as well as for male fertility.     

Mechanisms of spindle assembly and size control

The spindle is crucial for cell division by allowing the faithful segregation of replicated chromosomes to daughter cells. Proper segregation is ensured only if microtubules (MTs) and hundreds of other associated factors interact to assemble this complex structure with the appropriate architecture and size. In this review, we describe the latest view of spindle organisation as well as the molecular gradients and mechanisms underlying MT nucleation and spindle assembly. We then discuss the overlapping physical and molecular constraints that dictate spindle morphology, concluding with a focus on spindle size regulation.     

The quadripolar microtubule system in lower land plants

The quadripolar microtubule system (QMS) is a complex array that is associated with predivision establishment of quadripolarity in sporocytes of lower plants (bryophytes and lycopsids). The QMS unerringly predicts the polarity of the two meiotic divisions and plays a central role in development of both the mitotic apparatus (MA) and cytokinetic apparatus (CA) which together accomplish quadripartitioning of the sporocyte into four haploid spores. The QMS is typically, but not exclusively, associated with monoplastidy and precocious quadrilobing of the cytoplasm. In early meiotic prophase the single plastid divides and the resultant plastids migrate so that either the tips of two plastids or the four plastids resulting from a second division are located in the future spore domains. Microtubules that emanate from the plastid tips or from individual plastids in the spore domains interact in the future planes of cytokinesis and give rise to the QMS. The QMS, which encages the prophase nucleus, consists of at least four and usually six (when spore domains are in tetrahedral arrangement) bipolar spindle-like arrays of microtubules presumably with minus ends at plastids in spore domains and plus ends interacting in the future plane of cytokinesis. Each of the six arrays is essentially like the single axial microtubule system (AMS) that intersects the division site and is transformed into the spindle in monoplastidic mitosis in hornworts. As comparative data accumulate, it appears that the AMS is not unique to monoplastidic cell division but instead represents a basic microtubule arrangement that survives as spindle and phragmoplast in cell division of higher plants.     

Short-time effects of taxol on the seminiferous epithelium of the rat

Summary The effect of taxol, an inhibitor of microtubule degradation, on the seminiferous epithelium was studied. Taxol arrested spermatogenesis at metaphase in both mitotic and meiotic germ cell division. Microtubules were seen to accumulate, especially in the cytoplasm of the spermatogonia, and also in the early spermatids and Sertoli cells. No microtubule accumulation was observed in germ cells during meiotic prophase. Formation of the flagellum was affected in developing spermatids. Peculiar lamellar structures, probably derived from degenerating mitochondria, were seen in the cytoplasm of late spermatids and Sertoli cells.The results are compared with the effects of other mitotic inhibitors such as colchicine and vinca alcaloids.