PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Janardan N. Gavade
AU  - Chris Puccia
AU  - S. Grace Herod
AU  - Jonathan C. Trinidad
AU  - Luke E. Berchowitz
AU  - Soni Lacefield
TI  - The 14-3-3 Proteins Bmh1 and Bmh2 Are Key Regulators of Meiotic Commitment
AID  - 10.1101/2021.09.06.459189
DP  - 2021 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2021.09.06.459189
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/09/06/2021.09.06.459189.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/09/06/2021.09.06.459189.full
AB  - Induction of meiosis requires exogenous signals that activate internal gene regulatory networks. Meiotic commitment ensures the irreversible continuation of meiosis, even upon withdrawal of the meiosis inducing signals. Budding yeast cells have a unique property in that cells enter meiosis when starved, but if given nutrient-rich medium prior to the commitment point, they exit meiosis and enter mitosis. After the meiotic commitment point in prometaphase I, cells remain in meiosis even with addition of nutrients. Despite the importance of meiotic commitment in ensuring the production of gametes, only a few genes involved in the commitment process are known. We performed a genome-scale screen in budding yeast and discovered new regulators of meiotic commitment including Bcy1, which is involved in nutrient sensing, the meiosis-specific kinase Ime2, Polo kinase Cdc5, and the 14-3-3 proteins Bmh1 and Bmh2. Importantly, we found that Bmh1 and Bmh2 are involved in multiple processes throughout meiosis including the maintenance of the middle meiosis transcription factor Ndt80, activation of Cdc5, and interaction with an RNA-binding protein Pes4, which is important for regulating the timing of translation of several mRNAs in meiosis II. This study identifies a meiotic commitment regulatory network with the 14-3-3 proteins functioning as central regulators.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.