Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Genetics logoLink to Genetics
. 1994 Jan;136(1):65–74. doi: 10.1093/genetics/136.1.65

The Yeast Med1 Mutant Undergoes Both Meiotic Homolog Nondisjunction and Precocious Separation of Sister Chromatids

B Rockmill 1, G S Roeder 1
PMCID: PMC1205793  PMID: 8138177

Abstract

A mutant at the yeast MED1 locus was isolated in a screen for sporulation-proficient, meiotic-lethal mutants. Synaptonemal complex formation in the med1 mutant is apparently normal and med1 strains undergo meiotic crossing over at approximately 50% of the wild-type level. The med1 mutant undergoes homolog nondisjunction at meiosis I, presumably as a consequence of the decrease in crossing over. In addition, the mutant undergoes precocious separation of sister chromatids, resulting in chromosome missegregation at both meiotic divisions. We suggest that the med1 mutation perturbs chromosome structure, leading to a reduction in recombination and a defect in sister chromatid cohesion.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (2.7 MB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bhargava J., Engebrecht J., Roeder G. S. The rec102 mutant of yeast is defective in meiotic recombination and chromosome synapsis. Genetics. 1992 Jan;130(1):59–69. doi: 10.1093/genetics/130.1.59. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Clarke L., Carbon J. Genomic substitutions of centromeres in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Nature. 1983 Sep 1;305(5929):23–28. doi: 10.1038/305023a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Dutcher S. K., Hartwell L. H. The role of S. cerevisiae cell division cycle genes in nuclear fusion. Genetics. 1982 Feb;100(2):175–184. doi: 10.1093/genetics/100.2.175. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Elledge S. J., Davis R. W. A family of versatile centromeric vectors designed for use in the sectoring-shuffle mutagenesis assay in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Gene. 1988 Oct 30;70(2):303–312. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(88)90202-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Engebrecht J., Hirsch J., Roeder G. S. Meiotic gene conversion and crossing over: their relationship to each other and to chromosome synapsis and segregation. Cell. 1990 Sep 7;62(5):927–937. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(90)90267-i. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Galbraith A. M., Malone R. E. Characterization of REC104, a gene required for early meiotic recombination in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Dev Genet. 1992;13(6):392–402. doi: 10.1002/dvg.1020130603. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Gethmann R. C. The genetic analysis of a chromosome-specific meiotic mutant that permits a premature separation of sister chromatids in Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics. 1984 May;107(1):65–77. doi: 10.1093/genetics/107.1.65. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Goldstein L. S. Mechanisms of chromosome orientation revealed by two meiotic mutants in Drosophila melanogaster. Chromosoma. 1980;78(1):79–111. doi: 10.1007/BF00291909. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Hollingsworth N. M., Byers B. HOP1: a yeast meiotic pairing gene. Genetics. 1989 Mar;121(3):445–462. doi: 10.1093/genetics/121.3.445. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Hollingsworth N. M., Goetsch L., Byers B. The HOP1 gene encodes a meiosis-specific component of yeast chromosomes. Cell. 1990 Apr 6;61(1):73–84. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(90)90216-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Kerrebrock A. W., Miyazaki W. Y., Birnby D., Orr-Weaver T. L. The Drosophila mei-S332 gene promotes sister-chromatid cohesion in meiosis following kinetochore differentiation. Genetics. 1992 Apr;130(4):827–841. doi: 10.1093/genetics/130.4.827. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Klapholz S., Esposito R. E. Recombination and chromosome segregation during the single division meiosis in SPO12-1 and SPO13-1 diploids. Genetics. 1980 Nov;96(3):589–611. doi: 10.1093/genetics/96.3.589. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Klapholz S., Waddell C. S., Esposito R. E. The role of the SPO11 gene in meiotic recombination in yeast. Genetics. 1985 Jun;110(2):187–216. doi: 10.1093/genetics/110.2.187. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Maguire M. P., Paredes A. M., Riess R. W. The desynaptic mutant of maize as a combined defect of synaptonemal complex and chiasma maintenance. Genome. 1991 Dec;34(6):879–887. doi: 10.1139/g91-135. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Maguire M. P. Sister chromatid cohesiveness: vital function, obscure mechanism. Biochem Cell Biol. 1990 Nov;68(11):1231–1242. doi: 10.1139/o90-183. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Malone R. E., Bullard S., Hermiston M., Rieger R., Cool M., Galbraith A. Isolation of mutants defective in early steps of meiotic recombination in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Genetics. 1991 May;128(1):79–88. doi: 10.1093/genetics/128.1.79. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Malone R. E., Esposito R. E. Recombinationless meiosis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Mol Cell Biol. 1981 Oct;1(10):891–901. doi: 10.1128/mcb.1.10.891. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Mason J. M. Orientation disruptor (ord): a recombination-defective and disjunction-defective meiotic mutant in Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics. 1976 Nov;84(3):545–572. doi: 10.1093/genetics/84.3.545. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Menees T. M., Roeder G. S. MEI4, a yeast gene required for meiotic recombination. Genetics. 1989 Dec;123(4):675–682. doi: 10.1093/genetics/123.4.675. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Miyazaki W. Y., Orr-Weaver T. L. Sister-chromatid misbehavior in Drosophila ord mutants. Genetics. 1992 Dec;132(4):1047–1061. doi: 10.1093/genetics/132.4.1047. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Murray A. W., Szostak J. W. Construction of artificial chromosomes in yeast. Nature. 1983 Sep 15;305(5931):189–193. doi: 10.1038/305189a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Nicklas R. B. Chromosome segregation mechanisms. Genetics. 1974 Sep;78(1):205–213. doi: 10.1093/genetics/78.1.205. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Rockmill B., Lambie E. J., Roeder G. S. Spore enrichment. Methods Enzymol. 1991;194:146–149. doi: 10.1016/0076-6879(91)94012-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Rockmill B., Roeder G. S. A meiosis-specific protein kinase homolog required for chromosome synapsis and recombination. Genes Dev. 1991 Dec;5(12B):2392–2404. doi: 10.1101/gad.5.12b.2392. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Rockmill B., Roeder G. S. A meiosis-specific protein kinase homolog required for chromosome synapsis and recombination. Genes Dev. 1991 Dec;5(12B):2392–2404. doi: 10.1101/gad.5.12b.2392. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Rockmill B., Roeder G. S. Meiosis in asynaptic yeast. Genetics. 1990 Nov;126(3):563–574. doi: 10.1093/genetics/126.3.563. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Rockmill B., Roeder G. S. RED1: a yeast gene required for the segregation of chromosomes during the reductional division of meiosis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1988 Aug;85(16):6057–6061. doi: 10.1073/pnas.85.16.6057. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Ross L. O., Treco D., Nicolas A., Szostak J. W., Dawson D. Meiotic recombination on artificial chromosomes in yeast. Genetics. 1992 Jul;131(3):541–550. doi: 10.1093/genetics/131.3.541. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Spector L. M., Fogel S. Mitotic hyperploidy for chromosomes VIII and III in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Curr Genet. 1992 Apr;21(4-5):309–318. doi: 10.1007/BF00351688. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Sym M., Engebrecht J. A., Roeder G. S. ZIP1 is a synaptonemal complex protein required for meiotic chromosome synapsis. Cell. 1993 Feb 12;72(3):365–378. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(93)90114-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Uemura T., Tanagida M. Mitotic spindle pulls but fails to separate chromosomes in type II DNA topoisomerase mutants: uncoordinated mitosis. EMBO J. 1986 May;5(5):1003–1010. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1986.tb04315.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. von Wettstein D., Rasmussen S. W., Holm P. B. The synaptonemal complex in genetic segregation. Annu Rev Genet. 1984;18:331–413. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ge.18.120184.001555. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Genetics are provided here courtesy of Oxford University Press

RESOURCES