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How to halve ploidy: lessons from budding yeast meiosis

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Abstract

Maintenance of ploidy in sexually reproducing organisms requires a specialized form of cell division called meiosis that generates genetically diverse haploid gametes from diploid germ cells. Meiotic cells halve their ploidy by undergoing two rounds of nuclear division (meiosis I and II) after a single round of DNA replication. Research in Saccharomyces cerevisiae (budding yeast) has shown that four major deviations from the mitotic cell cycle during meiosis are essential for halving ploidy. The deviations are (1) formation of a link between homologous chromosomes by crossover, (2) monopolar attachment of sister kinetochores during meiosis I, (3) protection of centromeric cohesion during meiosis I, and (4) suppression of DNA replication following exit from meiosis I. In this review we present the current understanding of the above four processes in budding yeast and examine the possible conservation of molecular mechanisms from yeast to humans.

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Abbreviations

APC:

Anaphase promoting complex

Cdk:

Cyclin-dependent kinase

dHJ:

Double Holliday junction

DSB:

Double-strand break

FEAR:

Cdc fourteen early anaphase release

MEN:

Mitotic exit network

MT:

Microtubule

SC:

Synaptonemal complex

SPB:

Spindle pole body

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Acknowledgments

We apologize to numerous colleagues if, due to space constraints, their work is not cited in this review. P.A. and S.S. are supported by a grant from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC, BB/G00353X/1). G.W.K. is supported by a BBSRC-funded studentship.

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  1. School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK

    Gary William Kerr, Sourav Sarkar & Prakash Arumugam

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  2. Sourav Sarkar
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  3. Prakash Arumugam
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Correspondence to Prakash Arumugam.

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Kerr, G.W., Sarkar, S. & Arumugam, P. How to halve ploidy: lessons from budding yeast meiosis. Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 69, 3037–3051 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-012-0974-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-012-0974-9

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