Interchromosomal huddle kickstarts antiviral defense

Genomic instability in ataxia telangiectasia-like disorder and Nijmegen breakage syndrome is due to disruption of the Mre11-Rad50-Nbs1 complex. Buis et al. (2008) and Williams et al. (2008) now reveal the importance of the nuclease activity of Mre11 for mammalian genome maintenance and present a molecular view of its active site.     

Interchromosomal interactions and olfactory receptor choice

The expression of a single odorant receptor (OR) gene from a large gene family in individual sensory neurons is an essential feature of the organization and function of the olfactory system. We have used chromosome conformation capture to demonstrate the specific association of an enhancer element, H, on chromosome 14 with multiple OR gene promoters on different chromosomes. DNA and RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) experiments allow us to visualize the colocalization of the H enhancer with the single OR allele that is transcribed in a sensory neuron. In transgenic mice bearing additional H elements, sensory neurons that express OR pseudogenes also express a second functional receptor. These data suggest a model of receptor choice in which a single trans-acting enhancer element may allow the stochastic activation of only one OR allele in an olfactory sensory neuron.     

Interchromosomal recombination in Zea mays.

A new allele of the 27-kD zein locus in maize has been generated by interchromosomal recombination between chromosomes of two different inbred lines. A continuous patch of at least 11,817 bp of inbred W64A, containing the previously characterized Ra allele of the 27-kD zein gene, has been inserted into the genome of A188 by a single crossover. While both junction sequences are conserved, sequences of the two homologs between these junctions differ considerably. W64A contains the 7313-bp-long retrotransposon, Zeon-1. A188 contains a second copy of the 27-kD zein gene and a 2-kb repetitive element. Therefore, recombination results in a 7.3-kb insertion and a 14-kb deletion compared to the original S+A188 allele. If nonpairing sequences are looped out, 206 single base changes, frequently clustered, are present. The structure of this allele may explain how a recently discovered example of somatic recombination occurred in an A188/W64A hybrid. This would indicate that despite these sequence differences, pairing between these alleles could occur early during plant development. Therefore, such a somatically derived chimeric chromosome can also be heritable and give rise to new alleles.     

Interchromosomal connectives in squash preparations of L cells

Prominent chromosomal connecting fibers were observed by light microscopy. Preparations were usually made by squashing colchicine-treated L cells together with Giemsa stain after hypotonic treatment without fixation. The connectives were also observed in preparations from which either the colchicine treatment or the hypotonic treatment, or even both, were omitted. Most of the prominent connecting fibers were interchromosomal, but interchromatid connectives also occurred. No fibrous structures were observed at the kinetochore regions.     

Interchromosomal gene conversion at an endogenous human cell locus

To examine the relationship between gene conversion and reciprocal exchange at an endogenous chromosomal locus, we developed a reversion assay in a thymidine kinase deficient mutant, TX545, derived from the human lymphoblastoid cell line TK6. Selectable revertants of TX545 can be generated through interchromosomal gene conversion at the site of inactivating mutations on each tk allele or by reciprocal exchange that alters the linkage relationships of inactivating polymorphisms within the tk locus. Analysis of loss of heterozygosity (LOH) at intragenic polymorphisms and flanking microsatellite markers was used to initially evaluate allelotypes in TK(+) revertants for patterns associated with either gene conversion or crossing over. The linkage pattern in a subset of convertants was then unambiguously established, even in the event of prereplicative recombinational exchanges, by haplotype analysis of flanking microsatellite loci in tk(-/-) LOH mutants collected from the tk(+/-) parental convertant. Some (7/38; 18%) revertants were attributable to easily discriminated nonrecombinational mechanisms, including suppressor mutations within the tk coding sequence. However, all revertants classified as a recombinational event (28/38; 74%) were attributed to localized gene conversion, representing a highly significant preference (P < 0.0001) over gene conversion with associated reciprocal exchange, which was never observed.     

Interchromosomal Effects of Heterochromatic Deletions on Recombination in DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER

It is now known that partial deletions of the satellite sequences in X-chromosome heterochromatin result in a significant decrease in intrachromosomal recombination in the proximal region of the X chromosome of D. melanogaster (YAMAMOTO and MIKLOS 1978). It is important to ask then if the loss or gain of heterochromatin on the X also alters recombination in other chromosomes of the genome (interchromosomal effects). I have looked for such alterations by measuring recombination in chromosome 3. The results clearly indicate that the partial loss of X-chromosome heterochromatin not only decreases crossing over in the proximal region of the X chromosome itself, but also increases the frequency in chromosome 3, especially in the euchromatic regions around the centromere. Furthermore, the greater the deficiency of X heterochromatin, the higher is recombination in chromosome 3. This finding not only provides further evidence in support of the hypothesis that heterochromatin, in this case mainly composed of satellite DNA, regulates the recombination system, but it demonstrates that when the satellite content of one chromosome of the D. melanogaster genome is altered, there is an alteration in the crossover characteristics of other chromosomes in the same complement. If the amount of satellite DNA in a genome is being continuously altered, then one can predict that the recombination system is also being continually perturbed. Thus, the changing gene combinations produced indirectly by increases or decreases of heterochromatin are among the components available to organisms to break up or form new gene combinations upon which selection can act.     

Interchromosomal recombination in the extremely radioresistant bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans.

Deinococcus radiodurans and other members of the genus Deinococcus are remarkable for their extreme resistance to ionizing radiation and many other agents that damage DNA. We have recently shown that recombinational processes participate in interplasmidic repair following in vivo irradiation. We now present direct studies on interchromosomal recombination among chromosomes irradiated in vivo during stationary phase (four chromosomes per cell). Following an exposure to 1.75 Mrad (the dose required to achieve a survival of 37%, which degrades the cells' four chromosomes into about 500 fragments), we determined that there may be as many as 175 crossovers per chromosome (700 crossovers per nucleoid) undergoing repair. In addition, these studies suggest that many of the crossovers occurring during repair are nonreciprocal.     

Interchromosomal recombination is suppressed in mammalian somatic cells.

Homologous recombination occurs intrachromosomally as well as interchromosomally, both in mitotic (somatic) cells as well as meiotically in the germline. These different processes can serve very different purposes in maintaining the integrity of the organism and in enhancing diversity in the species. As shown here, comparison of the frequencies of intra- and interchromosomal recombination in meiotic and mitotic cells of both mouse and yeast argues that interchromosomal recombination is particularly low in mitotic cells of metazoan organisms. This result in turn suggests that the recombination machinery of metazoa might be organized to avoid the deleterious effects of homozygotization in somatic cells while still deriving the benefits of species diversification and of DNA repair.     

Interchromosomal effects of inversions on crossover rate in maize

Summary The influence of heterozygous inversions on heterologous chromosome recombination has been studied in maize.Inv 2a causes an increase in crossing-over rate ofYg-Sh region of chromosome9: the reverse is true for the more proximal regionBz-Wx. The coincidence indexes for the traitYg-Sh-Bz is decreased, while the same index is increased for the regionSh-Bz-Wz. Inv 9a is accompanied by an high recombination rate in the distal region of chromsome2 Lg-Gl, while in the regionGl-V the effect is relatively less pronounced.The results seem to exclude mitotic recombination events, but are less suitable for supporting other specific interpretations. However, taking into considerationDrosophila experiments, our data are not conflicting with the physiological hypothesis proposed byRamel, which, at present, appears to explain most of the experimental results, although some difficulty arises in considering the cases of decreased recombination rate.The possibility of modifying, by genetical means, the recombination potential is of significance in some stage of plant breeding, at least in some species.With 2 Figures in the Text     

鸡Z染色体上DMRT1基因的多重跨染色体剪接

性别决定与分化发育是同时涉及生命现象中两种细胞分裂(有丝分裂和减数分裂)形式的惟一的分化发育过程。对该过程中关键基因DMRT1的转录分析,发现位于鸡Z染色体上的DMRT1基因分别同时与4号染色体上的CENPC1基因、5号染色体上CD5R基因和2号染色体上37LRP/p40基因发生跨染色体剪接,由此构成了新的跨染色体剪接本DMRT1-CENPC1、DMRT1-CD5R和DMRT1-37LRP/p40。对其剪接位点的分析,发现两段染色体序列存在的重叠区可能在这种剪接中起着重要作用。DMRT1基因在转录过程中同时与多个染色体上基因发生多次跨染色体剪接的发现,无疑有助于对在转录水平上的多样性基因调控以及性别决定与分化发育等的认识开辟另一新途径。     

Tandem insertions of Alu elements

The technique of chromosomal orientation and direction fluorescence in situ hybridization (COD-FISH) was adapted for plant chromosomes in order to study long-range organization of two families of satellite repeats, VicTR-B of Vicia sativa and PisTR-B of Pisum sativum. The technique allowed FISH to be performed on mitotic chromosomes in a strand-specific manner, resulting in visualization of the repeat orientation along the chromosomes and with respect to the direction of telomeric repeats. The VicTR-B probe applied to V. sativa chromosomes produced signals on a single chromatid at most regions containing corresponding sequences, thus confirming a presence of long arrays of head-to-tail arranged repeat monomers which is typical for satellite DNA. However, hybridization signals of different or equal intensities on both chromatids were also detected at some loci, suggesting a more complex arrangement of the repeats. Similar observations were made for PisTR-B repeats on P. sativum chromosomes, although the proportion of loci displaying signals on both chromatids was lower. In contrast to VicTR-B, orientation of the PisTR-B clusters with respect to telomeric sequences appeared to be conserved among subtelomeric regions of metacentric chromosomes and of the short arms of acrocentric chromosomes.