The conserved ATPase PCH-2 controls the number and distribution of crossovers by antagonizing their formation in Caenorhabditis elegans

Meiotic crossover recombination is essential for both accurate chromosome segregation and the generation of new haplotypes for natural selection to act upon. This requirement is known as crossover assurance and is one example of crossover control. While the conserved role of the ATPase, PCH-2, durin...

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Main Authors: Bhumil Patel, Maryke Grobler, Alberto Herrera, Elias Logari, Valery Ortiz, Needhi Bhalla
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: eLife Sciences Publications Ltd 2025-02-01
Series:eLife
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Online Access:https://elifesciences.org/articles/102409
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author Bhumil Patel
Maryke Grobler
Alberto Herrera
Elias Logari
Valery Ortiz
Needhi Bhalla
author_facet Bhumil Patel
Maryke Grobler
Alberto Herrera
Elias Logari
Valery Ortiz
Needhi Bhalla
author_sort Bhumil Patel
collection DOAJ
description Meiotic crossover recombination is essential for both accurate chromosome segregation and the generation of new haplotypes for natural selection to act upon. This requirement is known as crossover assurance and is one example of crossover control. While the conserved role of the ATPase, PCH-2, during meiotic prophase has been enigmatic, a universal phenotype when pch-2 or its orthologs are mutated is a change in the number and distribution of meiotic crossovers. Here, we show that PCH-2 controls the number and distribution of crossovers by antagonizing their formation. This antagonism produces different effects at different stages of meiotic prophase: early in meiotic prophase, PCH-2 prevents double-strand breaks from becoming crossover-eligible intermediates, limiting crossover formation at sites of initial double-strand break formation and homolog interactions. Later in meiotic prophase, PCH-2 winnows the number of crossover-eligible intermediates, contributing to the designation of crossovers and ultimately, crossover assurance. We also demonstrate that PCH-2 accomplishes this regulation through the meiotic HORMAD, HIM-3. Our data strongly support a model in which PCH-2’s conserved role is to remodel meiotic HORMADs throughout meiotic prophase to destabilize crossover-eligible precursors and coordinate meiotic recombination with synapsis, ensuring the progressive implementation of meiotic recombination and explaining its function in the pachytene checkpoint and crossover control.
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spelling doaj-art-da00e5d7e99743c3aae1bdd577b11bba2025-08-20T02:43:42ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2025-02-011310.7554/eLife.102409The conserved ATPase PCH-2 controls the number and distribution of crossovers by antagonizing their formation in Caenorhabditis elegansBhumil Patel0Maryke Grobler1Alberto Herrera2Elias Logari3Valery Ortiz4Needhi Bhalla5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6859-0073Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, United StatesDepartment of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, United StatesDepartment of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, United StatesDepartment of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, United StatesDepartment of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, United StatesDepartment of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, United StatesMeiotic crossover recombination is essential for both accurate chromosome segregation and the generation of new haplotypes for natural selection to act upon. This requirement is known as crossover assurance and is one example of crossover control. While the conserved role of the ATPase, PCH-2, during meiotic prophase has been enigmatic, a universal phenotype when pch-2 or its orthologs are mutated is a change in the number and distribution of meiotic crossovers. Here, we show that PCH-2 controls the number and distribution of crossovers by antagonizing their formation. This antagonism produces different effects at different stages of meiotic prophase: early in meiotic prophase, PCH-2 prevents double-strand breaks from becoming crossover-eligible intermediates, limiting crossover formation at sites of initial double-strand break formation and homolog interactions. Later in meiotic prophase, PCH-2 winnows the number of crossover-eligible intermediates, contributing to the designation of crossovers and ultimately, crossover assurance. We also demonstrate that PCH-2 accomplishes this regulation through the meiotic HORMAD, HIM-3. Our data strongly support a model in which PCH-2’s conserved role is to remodel meiotic HORMADs throughout meiotic prophase to destabilize crossover-eligible precursors and coordinate meiotic recombination with synapsis, ensuring the progressive implementation of meiotic recombination and explaining its function in the pachytene checkpoint and crossover control.https://elifesciences.org/articles/102409meiosisrecombinationcrossoversynaptonemal complexsynapsischeckpoint
spellingShingle Bhumil Patel
Maryke Grobler
Alberto Herrera
Elias Logari
Valery Ortiz
Needhi Bhalla
The conserved ATPase PCH-2 controls the number and distribution of crossovers by antagonizing their formation in Caenorhabditis elegans
eLife
meiosis
recombination
crossover
synaptonemal complex
synapsis
checkpoint
title The conserved ATPase PCH-2 controls the number and distribution of crossovers by antagonizing their formation in Caenorhabditis elegans
title_full The conserved ATPase PCH-2 controls the number and distribution of crossovers by antagonizing their formation in Caenorhabditis elegans
title_fullStr The conserved ATPase PCH-2 controls the number and distribution of crossovers by antagonizing their formation in Caenorhabditis elegans
title_full_unstemmed The conserved ATPase PCH-2 controls the number and distribution of crossovers by antagonizing their formation in Caenorhabditis elegans
title_short The conserved ATPase PCH-2 controls the number and distribution of crossovers by antagonizing their formation in Caenorhabditis elegans
title_sort conserved atpase pch 2 controls the number and distribution of crossovers by antagonizing their formation in caenorhabditis elegans
topic meiosis
recombination
crossover
synaptonemal complex
synapsis
checkpoint
url https://elifesciences.org/articles/102409
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