Condensin confers the longitudinal rigidity of chromosomes

In addition to inter-chromatid cohesion, mitotic and meiotic chromatids must have three physical properties: compaction into 'threads' roughly co-linear with their DNA sequence, intra-chromatid cohesion determining their rigidity, and a mechanism to promote sister chromatid disentanglement...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNature cell biology Vol. 17; no. 6; pp. 771 - 781
Main Authors Houlard, Martin, Godwin, Jonathan, Metson, Jean, Lee, Jibak, Hirano, Tatsuya, Nasmyth, Kim
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England Nature Publishing Group 01.06.2015
Subjects
Adenosine Triphosphatases - genetics
Adenosine Triphosphatases - metabolism
Animals
Cell Cycle Proteins - genetics
Cellular control mechanisms
Cellular proteins
Chromatids
Chromosomal Proteins, Non-Histone - genetics
Chromosome Segregation - physiology
Chromosomes
Chromosomes - physiology
DNA-Binding Proteins - genetics
DNA-Binding Proteins - metabolism
Genetic aspects
Meiosis - genetics
Meiosis - physiology
Mice
Mice, Transgenic
Multiprotein Complexes - genetics
Multiprotein Complexes - metabolism
Nuclear Proteins - genetics
Oocytes - cytology
Properties
Structure
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Summary:In addition to inter-chromatid cohesion, mitotic and meiotic chromatids must have three physical properties: compaction into 'threads' roughly co-linear with their DNA sequence, intra-chromatid cohesion determining their rigidity, and a mechanism to promote sister chromatid disentanglement. A fundamental issue in chromosome biology is whether a single molecular process accounts for all three features. There is universal agreement that a pair of Smc-kleisin complexes called condensin I and II facilitate sister chromatid disentanglement, but whether they also confer thread formation or longitudinal rigidity is either controversial or has never been directly addressed respectively. We show here that condensin II (beta-kleisin) has an essential role in all three processes during meiosis I in mouse oocytes and that its function overlaps with that of condensin I (gamma-kleisin), which is otherwise redundant. Pre-assembled meiotic bivalents unravel when condensin is inactivated by TEV cleavage, proving that it actually holds chromatin fibres together.
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ISSN:1465-7392
1476-4679
DOI:10.1038/ncb3167