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A practical reference for studying meiosis in the model ciliate Tetrahymena thermophila

Marine Life Science & Technology volume 4, pages 595–608 (2022)Cite this article

Abstract

Meiosis is a critical cell division program that produces haploid gametes for sexual reproduction. Abnormalities in meiosis are often causes of infertility and birth defects (e.g., Down syndrome). Most organisms use a highly specialized zipper-like protein complex, the synaptonemal complex (SC), to guide and stabilize pairing of homologous chromosomes in meiosis. Although the SC is critical for meiosis in many eukaryotes, there are organisms that perform meiosis without a functional SC. However, such SC-less meiosis is poorly characterized. To understand the features of SC-less meiosis and its adaptive significance, the ciliated protozoan Tetrahymena was selected as a model. Meiosis research in Tetrahymena has revealed intriguing aspects of the regulatory programs utilized in its SC-less meiosis, yet additional efforts are needed for obtaining an in-depth comprehension of mechanisms that are associated with the absence of SC. Here, aiming at promoting a wider application of Tetrahymena for meiosis research, we introduce basic concepts and core techniques for studying meiosis in Tetrahymena and then suggest future directions for expanding the current Tetrahymena meiosis research toolbox. These methodologies could be adopted for dissecting meiosis in poorly characterized ciliates that might reveal novel features. Such data will hopefully provide insights into the function of the SC and the evolution of meiosis from a unique perspective.

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Data availability

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article (and its supplementary information file).

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Josef Loidl (University of Vienna) for his critical comments on the manuscript. We also thank Drs Weibo Song and Long Zhao (Ocean University of China) for their great help in figure illustration and fluorescence microscopy, respectively. We appreciate Dr. Ying Yan (Ocean University of China) for sharing a valuable out-of-print monograph. Moreover, we also appreciate the computing resources provided by IEMB-1, a high-performance computing cluster operated by the Institute of Evolution & Marine Biodiversity. This work is supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 202241003, to Dr. Miao Tian), by the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2022JQ13, to Dr. Miao Tian), and by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement (No. 101024333). Dr. Rachel Howard-Till is supported by NIH RO1GM127571.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Evolution & Marine Biodiversity, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266003, China

    Miao Tian, Xia Cai, Yujie Liu & Mingmei Liucong

  2. Laboratory for Marine Biology and Biotechnology, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266237, China

    Miao Tian, Xia Cai, Yujie Liu & Mingmei Liucong

  3. Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA

    Rachel Howard-Till

  4. Institute of Human Genetics, CNRS, University of Montpellier, 34090, Montpellier, France

    Miao Tian

Authors
  1. Miao Tian
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  2. Xia Cai
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  3. Yujie Liu
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  4. Mingmei Liucong
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Contributions

MT conceived and wrote the original manuscript, and prepared most figures; RHT contributed to writing the manuscript; MT collected and analyzed most data; XC, and YL provided the necessary assistance in data collection and interpretation; CL contributed to the illustration of some figures. All authors provided critical feedback and helped shape the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Miao Tian.

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The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Animal and human rights statements

We declare that all applicable international, national, and or institutional guidelines for sampling, care, and experimental use of organisms for the study have been followed and all necessary approvals have been obtained.

Additional information

Edited by Jiamei Li.

Special topic: Ciliatology.

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Tian, M., Cai, X., Liu, Y. et al. A practical reference for studying meiosis in the model ciliate Tetrahymena thermophila. Mar Life Sci Technol 4, 595–608 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42995-022-00149-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42995-022-00149-8

Keywords

  • Meiosis
  • Ciliate
  • Tetrahymena
  • Synaptonemal complex
  • Cytogenetics