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Spatiotemporal dynamics of condensins I and II: evolutionary insights from the primitive red alga Cyanidioschyzon merolae
Author(s) -
Takayuki Fujiwara,
Kan Tanaka,
Tsuneyoshi Kuroiwa,
Takeshi Hirano
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
molecular biology of the cell
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.463
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1939-4586
pISSN - 1059-1524
DOI - 10.1091/mbc.e13-04-0208
Subject(s) - condensin , biology , prometaphase , mitosis , centromere , metaphase , microbiology and biotechnology , evolutionary biology , chromosome segregation , chromosome , genetics , gene
Condensins are multisubunit complexes that play central roles in chromosome organization and segregation in eukaryotes. Many eukaryotic species have two different condensin complexes (condensins I and II), although some species, such as fungi, have condensin I only. Here we use the red alga Cyanidioschyzon merolae as a model organism because it represents the smallest and simplest organism that is predicted to possess both condensins I and II. We demonstrate that, despite the great evolutionary distance, spatiotemporal dynamics of condensins in C. merolae is strikingly similar to that observed in mammalian cells: condensin II is nuclear throughout the cell cycle, whereas condensin I appears on chromosomes only after the nuclear envelope partially dissolves at prometaphase. Unlike in mammalian cells, however, condensin II is confined to centromeres in metaphase, whereas condensin I distributes more broadly along arms. We firmly establish a targeted gene disruption technique in this organism and find, to our surprise, that condensin II is not essential for mitosis under laboratory growth conditions, although it plays a crucial role in facilitating sister centromere resolution in the presence of a microtubule drug. The results provide fundamental insights into the evolution of condensin-based chromosome architecture and dynamics.

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