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Needhi Bhalla

Publications and source records attributed to Needhi Bhalla.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Chromosome sites play dual roles to establish homologous synapsis during meiosis in C. elegans.

We have investigated the role of pairing centers (PCs), cis-acting sites required for accurate segregation of homologous chromosomes during meiosis in C. elegans. We find that these sites play two distinct roles that contribute to proper segregation. Chromosomes lacking PCs usually fail to synapse and also lack a synapsis-independent stabilization activity. The presence of a PC on just one copy of a chromosome pair promotes synapsis but does not support synapsis-independent pairing stabilization, indicating that these functions are separable. Once initiated, synapsis is highly processive, even between nonhomologous chromosomes of disparate lengths, elucidating how translocations suppress meiotic recombination in C. elegans. These findings suggest a multistep pathway for chromosome synapsis in which PCs impart selectivity and efficiency through a "kinetic proofreading" mechanism. We speculate that concentration of these activities at one region per chromosome may have coevolved with the loss of a point centromere to safeguard karyotype stability.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

HIM-8 binds to the X chromosome pairing center and mediates chromosome-specific meiotic synapsis.

The him-8 gene is essential for proper meiotic segregation of the X chromosomes in C. elegans. Here we show that loss of him-8 function causes profound X chromosome-specific defects in homolog pairing and synapsis. him-8 encodes a C2H2 zinc-finger protein that is expressed during meiosis and concentrates at a site on the X chromosome known as the meiotic pairing center (PC). A role for HIM-8 in PC function is supported by genetic interactions between PC lesions and him-8 mutations. HIM-8 bound chromosome sites associate with the nuclear envelope (NE) throughout meiotic prophase. Surprisingly, a point mutation in him-8 that retains both chromosome binding and NE localization fails to stabilize pairing or promote synapsis. These observations indicate that stabilization of homolog pairing is an active process in which the tethering of chromosome sites to the NE may be necessary but is not sufficient.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

A conserved checkpoint monitors meiotic chromosome synapsis in Caenorhabditis elegans.

We report the discovery of a checkpoint that monitors synapsis between homologous chromosomes to ensure accurate meiotic segregation. Oocytes containing unsynapsed chromosomes selectively undergo apoptosis even if a germline DNA damage checkpoint is inactivated. This culling mechanism is specifically activated by unsynapsed pairing centers, cis-acting chromosome sites that are also required to promote synapsis in Caenorhabditis elegans. Apoptosis due to synaptic failure also requires the C. elegans homolog of PCH2, a budding yeast pachytene checkpoint gene, which suggests that this surveillance mechanism is widely conserved.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Mutation of YCS4, a budding yeast condensin subunit, affects mitotic and nonmitotic chromosome behavior.

The budding yeast YCS4 gene encodes a conserved regulatory subunit of the condensin complex. We isolated an allele of this gene in a screen for mutants defective in sister chromatid separation or segregation. The phenotype of the ycs4-1 mutant is similar to topoisomerase II mutants and distinct from the esp1-1 mutant: the topological resolution of sister chromatids is compromised in ycs4-1 despite normal removal of cohesins from mitotic chromosomes. Consistent with a role in sister separation, YCS4 function is required to localize DNA topoisomerase I and II to chromosomes. Unlike its homologs in Xenopus and fission yeast, Ycs4p is associated with chromatin throughout the cell cycle; the only change in localization occurs during anaphase when the protein is enriched at the nucleolus. This relocalization may reveal the specific challenge that segregation of the transcriptionally hyperactive, repetitive array of rDNA genes can present during mitosis. Indeed, segregation of the nucleolus is abnormal in ycs4-1 at the nonpermissive temperature. Interrepeat recombination in the rDNA array is specifically elevated in ycs4-1 at the permissive temperature, suggesting that the Ycs4p plays a role at the array aside from its segregation. Furthermore, ycs4-1 is defective in silencing at the mating type loci at the permissive temperature. Taken together, our data suggest that there are mitotic as well as nonmitotic chromosomal abnormalities associated with loss of condensin function in budding yeast.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗