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The meiotic checkpoint monitoring sypapsis eliminates spermatocytes via p53-independent apoptosis

Nature Genetics volume 18, pages 257–261 (1998)Cite this article

Abstract

Evidence is accumulating that meiosis is subject to ‘checkpoints’ that monitor the quality of this complex process. In yeast unresolved double strand breaks (DSBs) in DNA are thought to trigger a ‘recombination checkpoint’ that leads to pachytene arrest1. In higher eukaryotes, there is evidence for a checkpoint that monitors chromosome synapsis and in mammals the most compelling evidence relates to the sex chromosomes2. In normal male mice, there is synapsis between the X and Y pseudoautosomal regions; in XSxraO mice, with a single asynaptic sex chromosome, there is arrest at the first meiotic metaphase3, the arrested cells being eliminated by apoptosis (our unpublished data). Satisfying the requirement for pseudoautosomal synapsis by providing a pairing partner for the XSxra chromosome avoids this arrest4. We have considered that this ‘synapsis checkpoint’ may be a modification of the yeast ‘recombination checkpoint’, with unresolved DSBs (a corollary of asynapsis) providing the trigger for apoptosis. DSBs induced by irradiation are known to trigger apoptosis in a number of cell types via a p53-dependent pathway5,6, and we now show that irradiation-induced spermatogonial apoptosis is also p53-dependent. In contrast, the apoptotic elimination of spermatocytes with synaptic errors proved to be p53-independent.

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Author notes

  1. Teresa Odorisio

    Present address: Laboratorio di Biologia Molecolare e Cellulare, Istituto Dermopatico dell'Immacolata, Via dei Monti di Creta 104, 00167, Roma, Italy

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Developmental Genetics, National Institute for Medical Research, The Ridgeway, Mill Hill, London, NW7 1AA, UK

    Teresa Odorisio, Tristan A. Rodriguez & Paul S. Burgoyne

  2. MRC Mammalian Genetics Unit, Harwell, Didcot, OX11 ORD, UK

    Edward P. Evans

  3. Department of Pathology, University Medical School, Teviot Place, Edinburgh, EH8 9AG, UK

    Alan R. Clarke

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  1. Teresa Odorisio
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  3. Edward P. Evans
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  4. Alan R. Clarke
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  5. Paul S. Burgoyne
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Correspondence to Paul S. Burgoyne.

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Odorisio, T., Rodriguez, T., Evans, E. et al. The meiotic checkpoint monitoring sypapsis eliminates spermatocytes via p53-independent apoptosis. Nat Genet 18, 257–261 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng0398-257

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