Synaptonemal complex morphogenesis and sister-chromatid cohesion require Mek1-dependent phosphorylation of a meiotic chromosomal protein

  1. Julie M. Bailis2 and
  2. G. Shirleen Roeder1,2,3,4
  1. 1Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 2Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, 3Department of Genetics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8103 USA

Abstract

Development of yeast meiotic chromosome cores into full-length synaptonemal complexes requires the MEK1 gene product, a meiosis-specific protein kinase homolog. The Mek1 protein associates with meiotic chromosomes and colocalizes with the Red1 protein, which is a component of meiotic chromosome cores. Mek1 and Red1 interact physically in meiotic cells, as demonstrated by coimmunoprecipitation and the two-hybrid protein system. Hop1, another protein associated with meiotic chromosome cores, also interacts with Mek1 but only in the presence of Red1. Red1 displays Mek1-dependent phosphorylation, both in vitro and in vivo, and Mek1 kinase activity is necessary for Mek1 function in vivo. Fluorescent in situ hybridization analysis indicates that Mek1-mediated phosphorylation of Red1 is required for meiotic sister-chromatid cohesion, raising the possibility that cohesion is regulated by protein phosphorylation.

Keywords

Footnotes

  • 4 Corresponding author.

  • E-MAIL shirleen.roeder{at}yale.edu; FAX (203) 432-3263.

    • Received June 30, 1998.
    • Accepted September 23, 1998.
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