Slowing Replication in Preparation for Reduction 英文参考文献.docVIP

Perspective SlowingReplicationinPreparationforReduction KatherineS.Lawrence,JoAnneEngebrecht* DepartmentofMolecularandCellularBiology,UniversityofCaliforniaDavis,Davis,California,UnitedStatesofAmerica Meiosis reduces the ploidy of the genome to generate haploid gametes for timingdifferencesbetweenmitSandmeiS. Incontrast,whileoriginsfiredinthesame relativeorder,asreportedpreviouslyfora single chromosome [12], replication initi- ationatasignificantfractionoforiginswas delayedinmeiScomparedtomitS. No significant differences between the replicationprofileswereobserved,suggest- ing that loading of meiosis-specific pro- teinsandbreakformationdonotregulate meioticreplicationtiming. sexual reproduction. As gametes are portals for the generational transfer of genetic material, it is imperative that the genome is copied accurately and that chromosomes segregate equally into each haploidgamete. Properchromosomeseg- regationrequirestheformationofspecial- ized chromosome axes to create and maintain an environment competent for double-strandbreak(DSB)formationand homologousrecombination.Althoughthe fundamental copying mechanism appears tobeidenticalinmitosisandmeiosis,theS phase that precedes meiosis (meiS) is at leasttwiceaslongasmitoticSphase(mitS) [1–4].Theunderlyingbasisforanextend- edSphasepriortomeiosishas,untilnow, beenmysterious.Whileitispostulatedthat meiS length contributes to the dramatic chromosome reorganization that occurs during meiotic prophase (Figure 1), there isconflictingdataconcerningtheinterde- pendencies of meiS, chromosome mor- phogenesis,andDSBformation[5–9].In this issue of PLoS Genetics, Blitzblau et al. [10] use innovative genome-wide ap- proachesinyeasttoelucidatemechanisms underlying meiS length and provide in- sight into the relationship between DNA replicationandmeioticprophaseevents. TotestwhetherDNAsynthesis,inturn, affected axis and DSB formation, the authors examined the association of mei- osis-specific axis components (Red1 and Hop1)f