The cohesin complex in mammalian meiosis

Abstract

Cohesin is an evolutionary conserved multi‐protein complex that plays a pivotal role in chromosome dynamics. It plays a role both in sister chromatid cohesion and in establishing higher order chromosome architecture, in somatic and germ cells. Notably, the cohesin complex in meiosis differs from that in mitosis. In mammalian meiosis, distinct types of cohesin complexes are produced by altering the combination of meiosis‐specific subunits. The meiosis‐specific subunits endow the cohesin complex with specific functions for numerous meiosis‐associated chromosomal events, such as chromosome axis formation, homologue association, meiotic recombination and centromeric cohesion for sister kinetochore geometry. This review mainly focuses on the cohesin complex in mammalian meiosis, pointing out the differences in its roles from those in mitosis. Further, common and divergent aspects of the meiosis‐specific cohesin complex between mammals and other organisms are discussed.

PDS5 proteins regulate the length of axial elements and telomere integrity during male mouse meiosis

“…Immunofluorescence staining with specific antibodies shows that PDS5A and PDS5B are distributed along the AEs/LEs in prophase I mouse spermatocytes, as previously described for the cohesin subunits SMC1α, SMC1β, SMC3, RAD21, RAD21L, REC8 and STAG3 (Ishiguro, 2019). It is likely that the presence of PDS5A and PDS5B at meiotic chromosome axes occurs in the context of the cohesin complex, as reported for PDS5 in different organisms (van Heemst et al, 1999;Zhang et al, 2005;Ding et al, 2006;Jin et al, 2009), and consistent with the finding that PDS5B co-immunoprecipitates with meiosis-specific cohesin subunits REC8 and SMC1β from mouse spermatocyte extracts (Fukuda and Höög, 2010).…”

“…During the first and second meiotic divisions, recombined homologs and single chromatids migrate to opposite spindle poles, respectively, thanks to a sequential loss of arm and centromere sister-chromatid cohesion (Suja and Barbero, 2009;Ishiguro, 2019).…”

“…In addition to the canonical cohesin subunits mentioned above, several meiosisspecific subunits have been described during mammalian meiosis. SMC1β and STAG3 are the paralogs of SMC1α and SA1/2, respectively, while REC8 and RAD21L are the meiotic counterparts of the kleisin subunit RAD21 (Ishiguro, 2019). The distribution and functions of the different cohesin subunits during mammalian meiosis has been extensively analyzed.…”

Quantitative Cytogenetics Reveals Molecular Stoichiometry and Longitudinal Organization of Meiotic Chromosome Axes and Loops

“…Previous work provided evidence that REC-8 and COH-3/4 cohesin complexes play functionally distinct roles during C. elegans meiosis (Severson et al, 2009;Severson and Meyer, 2014): REC-8 has been demonstrated to mediate sister chromatid cohesion, whereas COH-3/4 plays a key role in axis organization (FIG2S1A). Further, these functionally distinct complexes differ in their timing of association with chromatin: REC-8 cohesins (like murine REC8) load during pre-meiotic DNA replication, whereas COH-3/4 cohesins (like murine RAD21L) load after completion of S phase, at the beginning of prophase ((for review: (Ishiguro, 2019)) and are insufficient to maintain connections between sister chromatids in the absence of recombination (Crawley et al, 2016). Our data support and extend these findings substantially in several ways.…”

“…The foundation of the chromosome axis is built up by meiosis-specific cohesin complexes that are composed of a mixture of canonical subunits and meiosis-specific subunits. Most notably, meiosis-specific kleisin subunits have been identified in multiple organisms (Ishiguro, 2019), including Rec8p in budding yeast (Klein et al, 1999)), RAD21L and REC8 in mammals (Eijpe et al, 2003;Parisi et al, 1999), and COH-3, COH-4 and REC-8 in C. elegans (Pasierbek et al, 2001;Severson et al, 2009). At the onset of meiotic prophase, these cohesin complexes mediate by unknown mechanisms the recruitment of other meiosis-specific axis components.…”