用双向电泳分析百合减数第-分裂周期蛋白质的变化

利用双向电泳方法检测到百合减数第一分裂花粉母细胞内约有130种蛋白质组分,其中有两类蛋白质呈现周期性变化.70KD/pI6.1、66KD/pI6.4、68KD/pI7.2在中期、后期消失,末期重新出现;而10KD/pI5.3则在中、后期出现,末期消失.在减数第一分裂不同时期也有多种蛋白质的合成与降解现象,20KD/pI3.7、17KD/pI3.8、16KD/pI3.7、15KD/pI3.3、11KD/pI3.8、10KD/pI3.7六种蛋白质在后期合成;蛋白质呈现出周期变化和在不同分裂时期的合成与降解可能与减数分裂不同时期的周期调控有关.     

用双向电泳分析百合减数第一分裂周期蛋白质的变化

利用双向电泳方法检测到百合减数第一分裂花粉母细胞内约有130种蛋白质组分,其中有两类蛋白质呈现周期性变化。70KD／pI6.1,66KD/pI6.4,68KD/pI7.2在中期、后期消失,末期重新出现;而10KD／pI5.3则在中、后期出现、末期消人。在减数第一分裂不同时期也有多种蛋白质的合成与降解现象,20KD/pI3.7,17KD/pI3.8,16KD/pI3.7,15KD/pI3.3,11KD/pI3.8,10KD/pI3.7六种蛋白质在后期合成;蛋白质呈现出周期变化和在不同分裂时期的合成与降解可能与减数分裂不同时期的周期调控有关。     

嗜热四膜虫接合生殖周期皮层骨架蛋白组分的比较

嗜热四膜虫（Tetrahymena thermophila）BF株BF1、BF5系细胞为材料,根据显微观察将其接合生殖周期分为四个特定的阶段,采用生化抽提和SDS－PAGE及扫描、数据统计,分析了营养期与接合生殖前期、中期、末期同类蛋白质组成。发现80KD、87KD和88KD仅在营养期和接合前期;90.5KD、85.5KD和66KD则存在于接合生殖的各时期。这些蛋白的缺失与出现,可能与小核的减数分裂、合子的形成及分裂、接合区的形成有着某种联系。     

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。     

磷酸化组蛋白H3在小麦有丝分裂与减数分裂中的分布

在细胞周期中 ,与染色质凝集偶联的一类组蛋白修饰是组蛋白H3的磷酸化。运用H3_Ser 10磷酸化的特异性抗体 ,通过间接免疫荧光标记检测了磷酸化组蛋白H3在小麦 (TriticumaestivumL .)有丝分裂与减数分裂细胞中的分布。有丝分裂时 ,H3磷酸化起始于早前期 ,消失于末期 ,在中期与后期 ,H3磷酸化主要分布在着丝粒两侧的异染色质区。减数分裂时 ,H3磷酸化起始于细线期向偶线期转换时 ,并且从前期Ⅰ到后期Ⅰ保持均一分布于整个染色体上 ,直到末期Ⅰ消失 ,而中期Ⅱ与后期Ⅱ在着丝粒两侧的异染色质区的信号略强于染色体臂 ,直至消失于末期Ⅱ。磷酸化组蛋白H3在两类细胞分裂中的不同分布暗示这种保守的翻译后修饰可能发挥着除参与染色体凝集外的更复杂的作用。     

磷酸化组蛋白H3在小麦有丝分裂与减数分裂中的分布

在细胞周期中, 与染色质凝集偶联的一类组蛋白修饰是组蛋白H3的磷酸化.运用H3-Ser 10磷酸化的特异性抗体,通过间接免疫荧光标记检测了磷酸化组蛋白H3在小麦(Triticum aestivum L.)有丝分裂与减数分裂细胞中的分布.有丝分裂时,H3磷酸化起始于早前期,消失于末期,在中期与后期,H3磷酸化主要分布在着丝粒两侧的异染色质区.减数分裂时,H3磷酸化起始于细线期向偶线期转换时,并且从前期Ⅰ到后期Ⅰ保持均一分布于整个染色体上,直到末期Ⅰ消失,而中期Ⅱ与后期Ⅱ在着丝粒两侧的异染色质区的信号略强于染色体臂,直至消失于末期Ⅱ.磷酸化组蛋白H3在两类细胞分裂中的不同分布暗示这种保守的翻译后修饰可能发挥着除参与染色体凝集外的更复杂的作用.     

甜瓜花粉母细胞减数分裂及雄配子体的细胞学研究

以薄皮和厚皮类型甜瓜为试材,采用改良的染色体制片方法,系统观察了甜瓜花粉母细胞的减数分裂及雄配子体发育的过程,结果表明:(1)甜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Ⅱ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变得模糊,在前期Ⅱ再次清晰;(2)2种类型甜瓜终变期的染色体构型都以环状二价体为主;(3)在后期Ⅱ,观察到染色体的垂直和平行2种分离方式;(4)在前期Ⅰ和前期Ⅱ,伽师瓜"形成了多个较小的核仁,呈现一定的特殊性;(5)雄配子体发育经历了单核期和双核期,最后形成了成熟的花粉粒.研究表明,薄皮和厚皮类型甜瓜减数分裂的染色体行为基本一致,没有明显差异;伽师瓜"的核仁数量表现特殊可能与其长期的生态适应性有关.     

秤锤树的核型研究及其减数分裂过程的观察

观察研究了秤锤树有丝分裂和减数分裂的细胞学特征。秤锤树核型为2n=2x=24=4m 7sm(2SAT) 1st,属于较为原始的2A型。有丝分裂间期核为复杂染色中心型,前期出现B染色体,中期染色体中等大小。减数分裂中期具12对正常的二价体,但后期I和后期Ⅱ均有染色体异常现象发生。统计断片、落后染色体和染色体桥出现的比例与花粉粒败育性比例比较一致,表明秤锤树的小孢子在发生和发育过程中较高频率的败育现象可能存存一常的细胞学原因．     

起源于籼稻体细胞培养的联会消失变异的细胞遗传学研究

对表现不育的体细胞培养再生植株作减数分裂细胞遗传学分析发现,一株由IR54幼穗外植体起源的不育株(二倍体)为部分联会消失变异。其减数分裂早前期染色体配对正常,在终变期及中期Ⅰ观察到了数目不等的单价染色体,后期Ⅰ出现各种数目的落后染色体。由于减数分裂时染色体不平衡而导致该再生植株不育。     

造血器官机能障碍后家蚕血淋巴中蛋白质成分的变化

为了研究家蚕Bombyx mori造血器官机能障碍后其血淋巴中蛋白质成分的变化,利用重离子射线局部照射家蚕幼虫的造血器官,检测了照射后家蚕血淋巴中的蛋白质成分及注射大肠杆菌后在体内诱导出现的应急蛋白量的变化。结果表明,照射蚕血淋巴中的蛋白质含量与对照蚕之间没有明显的差异。但在成分分析时发现,5龄起蚕血淋巴中70 kD附近的3条蛋白质谱带比对照蚕的浓度要高,随着个体的发育两者的浓度都上升;5龄后期则相反,对照蚕的浓度比照射蚕高;脂肪体中贮藏蛋白质的含量具有相似的变化趋势。用家蚕贮藏蛋白质SP-1及SP-2的抗血清进行免疫印迹反应的结果显示：70 kD附近的3条蛋白质谱带的最上面的一条为贮藏蛋白质SP-1,下面的二条为贮藏蛋白质SP-2;同时照射蚕血淋巴中分子量约为24 kD的蛋白质成分也发生变化,5龄前期的浓度比对照蚕低,5龄第3天几乎检测不到;全体照射与造血器官局部照射蚕之间的结果相似。照射蚕注射大肠杆菌后在体内诱导出现的应急蛋白量明显比对照蚕要少。由此认为家蚕幼虫造血器官与血淋巴中的蛋白质成分有关,造血器官的机能障碍、血球的数量减少可影响脂肪体中蛋白质的合成,从而使存在于血淋巴中的蛋白质成分发生变化。     

The spindle checkpoint protein Mad2 regulates APC/C activity during prometaphase and metaphase of meiosis I in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

In many eukaryotes, disruption of the spindle checkpoint protein Mad2 results in an increase in meiosis I nondisjunction, suggesting that Mad2 has a conserved role in ensuring faithful chromosome segregation in meiosis. To characterize the meiotic function of Mad2, we analyzed individual budding yeast cells undergoing meiosis. We find that Mad2 sets the duration of meiosis I by regulating the activity of APC(Cdc20). In the absence of Mad2, most cells undergo both meiotic divisions, but securin, a substrate of the APC/C, is degraded prematurely, and prometaphase I/metaphase I is accelerated. Some mad2Δ cells have a misregulation of meiotic cell cycle events and undergo a single aberrant division in which sister chromatids separate. In these cells, both APC(Cdc20) and APC(Ama1) are prematurely active, and meiosis I and meiosis II events occur in a single meiotic division. We show that Mad2 indirectly regulates APC(Ama1) activity by decreasing APC(Cdc20) activity. We propose that Mad2 is an important meiotic cell cycle regulator that ensures the timely degradation of APC/C substrates and the proper orchestration of the meiotic divisions.     

Noncanonical meiosis in the nematode <Emphasis Type="Italic">Caenorhabditis elegans</Emphasis> as a model for studying the molecular bases of the homologous chromosome synapsis,crossing over,and segregation

The nematode C. elegans is a classic study object of developmental biology and genetics, which is particularly suitable for studying the molecular bases of meiosis. Developing meiocytes are located in the threadlike gonads of C. elegans in linear gradient order of the stages of meiosis, which facilitates studying the order of intracellular events during meiosis. C. elegans has polycentric chromosomes. This causes a special order of events during meiosis, and as a consequence, meiosis in C. elegance differs from canonical meiosis of most eukaryotes. In the meiotic prophase I, all chromosomes carry single protein “pairing centers.” They are responsible for joining homologous chromosomes in pairs. This initiates the formation of synaptonemal complexes (SCs). Programmed double-stranded DNA breaks appear after initiation of the SC assembly, and they give rise to meiotic recombination. The initiation of meiotic recombination after the chromosome pairing distinguishes the C. elegans meiotic pattern from those in the absolute majority of eukaryotes studied. C. elegans has strict crossing over interference, which allows for the formation of one chiasma per bivalent. In the late prophase I, the polycentric centromeres are remodeled, one of the chromosome ends acquires a cuplike kinetochore, and during two meiotic divisions, chromosomes behave as monocentric. The study of meiosis in C. elegans allows for separate investigation of synapsis and recombination of homologous chromosomes and provides material for studying the evolution of meiosis.     

Dissecting the first and the second meiotic divisions using a marker-less drug-hypersensitive fission yeast

Faithful chromosome segregation during meiosis is indispensable to prevent birth defects and infertility. Canonical genetic manipulations have not been very useful for studying meiosis II, since mutations of genes involved in cell cycle regulation or chromosome segregation may affect meiosis I, making interpretations of any defects observed in meiosis II complicated. Here we present a powerful strategy to dissect meiosis I and meiosis II, using chemical inhibitors in genetically tractable model organism fission yeast (Schizosaccharomyces pombe). As various chemical probes are not active in fission yeast, mainly due to an effective multidrug resistance (MDR) response, we have recently developed a drug-hypersensitive MDR-sup strain by suppression of the key genes responsible for MDR response. We further developed the MDR-supML (marker-less) strain by deleting 7 MDR genes without commonly used antibiotic markers. The new strain makes fluorescent tagging and gene deletion much simpler, which enables effective protein visualization in varied genetic backgrounds. Using the MDR-supML strain with chemical inhibitors and live cell fluorescence microscopy, we established cell cycle arrest at meiosis I and meiosis II and examined Aurora-dependent spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC) regulation during meiosis. We found that Aurora B/Ark1 kinase activity is required for recruitment of Bub1, an essential SAC kinase, to unattached kinetochore in prometaphase I and prometaphase II as in mitosis. Thus, Aurora’s role in SAC activation is likely conserved in mitosis, meiosis I, and meiosis II. Together, our MDR-supML strain will be useful to dissect complex molecular mechanisms in mitosis and 2 successive meiotic divisions.     

Characterization of Drosophila Rad51/SpnA protein in DNA binding and embryonic development

The Rad51 is a highly conserved protein throughout the eukaryotic kingdom and an essential enzyme in DNA repair and recombination. It possesses DNA binding activity and ATPase activity, and interacts with meiotic chromosomes during prophase I of meiosis. Drosophila Rad51, Spindle-A (SpnA) protein has been shown to be involved in repair of DNA damage in somatic cells and meiotic recombination in female germ cells. In this study, DNA binding activity of SpnA is demonstrated by both agarose gel mobility shift assay and restriction enzyme protection assay. SpnA is also shown to interact with meiotic chromosomes during prophase I in the primary spermatocytes of hsp26-spnA transgenic flies. In addition, SpnA is highly expressed in embryos, and the depletion of SpnA by RNA interference (RNAi) leads to embryonic lethality implying that SpnA is involved in early embryonic development. Therefore, these results suggest that Drosophila SpnA protein possesses properties similar to mammalian Rad51 homologs.     

Spo13 maintains centromeric cohesion and kinetochore coorientation during meiosis I

BACKGROUND: The meiotic cell cycle, the cell division cycle that leads to the generation of gametes, is unique in that a single DNA replication phase is followed by two chromosome segregation phases. During meiosis I, homologous chromosomes are segregated, and during meiosis II, as in mitosis, sister chromatids are partitioned. For homolog segregation to occur during meiosis I, physical linkages called chiasmata need to form between homologs, sister chromatid cohesion has to be lost in a stepwise manner, and sister kinetochores must attach to microtubules emanating from the same spindle pole (coorientation). RESULTS: Here we show that the meiosis-specific factor Spo13 functions in two key aspects of meiotic chromosome segregation. In cells lacking SPO13, cohesin, which is the protein complex that holds sister chromatids together, is not protected from removal around kinetochores during meiosis I but is instead lost along the entire length of the chromosomes. We furthermore find that Spo13 promotes sister kinetochore coorientation by maintaining the monopolin complex at kinetochores. In the absence of SPO13, Mam1 and Lrs4 disassociate from kinetochores prematurely during pro-metaphase I and metaphase I, resulting in a partial defect in sister kinetochore coorientation in spo13 Delta cells. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that Spo13 has the ability to regulate both the stepwise loss of sister chromatid cohesion and kinetochore coorientation, two essential features of meiotic chromosome segregation.     

Metaphase I arrest upon activation of the Mad2-dependent spindle checkpoint in mouse oocytes

BACKGROUND: The importance of mitotic spindle checkpoint control has been well established during somatic cell divisions. The metaphase-to-anaphase transition takes place only when all sister chromatids have been properly attached to the bipolar spindle and are aligned at the metaphase plate. Failure of this checkpoint may lead to unequal separation of sister chromatids. On the contrary, the existence of such a checkpoint during the first meiotic division in mammalian oocytes when homologous chromosomes are segregated has remained controversial. RESULTS: Here, we show that mouse oocytes respond to spindle damage by a transient and reversible cell cycle arrest in metaphase I with high Maturation Promoting Factor (MPF) activity. Furthermore, the mitotic checkpoint protein Mad2 is present throughout meiotic maturation and is recruited to unattached kinetochores. Overexpression of Mad2 in meiosis I leads to a cell cycle arrest in metaphase I. Expression of a dominant-negative Mad2 protein interferes with proper spindle checkpoint arrest. CONCLUSIONS: Errors in meiosis I cause missegregation of chromosomes and can result in the generation of aneuploid embryos with severe birth defects. In human oocytes, failures in spindle checkpoint control may be responsible for the generation of trisomies (e.g., Down Syndrome) due to chromosome missegregation in meiosis I. Up to now, the mechanisms ensuring correct separation of chromosomes in meiosis I remained unknown. Our study shows for the first time that a functional Mad2-dependent spindle checkpoint exists during the first meiotic division in mammalian oocytes.