Developmental Cell
Volume 15, Issue 2, 12 August 2008, Pages 285-297
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Article
Mouse Maelstrom, a Component of Nuage, Is Essential for Spermatogenesis and Transposon Repression in Meiosis

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Summary

Tight control of transposon activity is essential for the integrity of the germline. Recently, a germ-cell-specific organelle, nuage, was proposed to play a role in transposon repression. To test this hypothesis, we disrupted a murine homolog of a Drosophila nuage protein Maelstrom. Effects on male meiotic chromosome synapsis and derepression of transposable elements (TEs) were observed. In the adult Mael−/− testes, LINE-1 (L1) derepression occurred at the onset of meiosis. As a result, Mael−/− spermatocytes were flooded with L1 ribonucleoproteins (RNPs) that accumulated in large cytoplasmic enclaves and nuclei. Mael−/− spermatocytes with nuclear L1 RNPs exhibited massive DNA damage and severe chromosome asynapsis even in the absence of SPO11-generated meiotic double-strand breaks. This study demonstrates that MAEL, a nuage component, is indispensable for the silencing of TEs and identifies the initiation of meiosis as an important step in TE control in the male germline.

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These authors contributed equally to this work