Open AccessThe cohesin loader SCC2 contains a PHD finger that is required for meiosis in land plants
Author(s) -
Hongkuan Wang,
Wanyue Xu,
Yujin Sun,
Qichao Lian,
Cong Wang,
Chaoyi Yu,
Chengpeng He,
Jun Wang,
Hong Mā,
Gregory P. Copenhaver,
Yingxiang Wang
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
plos genetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.587
H-Index - 233
eISSN - 1553-7404
pISSN - 1553-7390
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pgen.1008849
Subject(s) - cohesin , biology , establishment of sister chromatid cohesion , meiosis , sister chromatids , synapsis , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , chromatid , mitosis , chromosome segregation , meiosis ii , homologous chromosome , gene , chromosome
Cohesin, a multisubunit protein complex, is required for holding sister chromatids together during mitosis and meiosis. The recruitment of cohesin by the sister chromatid cohesion 2/4 (SCC2/4) complex has been extensively studied in Saccharomyces cerevisiae mitosis, but its role in mitosis and meiosis remains poorly understood in multicellular organisms, because complete loss-of-function of either gene causes embryonic lethality. Here, we identified a weak allele of Atscc2 ( Atscc2-5 ) that has only minor defects in vegetative development but exhibits a significant reduction in fertility. Cytological analyses of Atscc2-5 reveal multiple meiotic phenotypes including defects in chromosomal axis formation, meiosis-specific cohesin loading, homolog pairing and synapsis, and AtSPO11-1 -dependent double strand break repair. Surprisingly, even though AtSCC2 interacts with AtSCC4 in vitro and in vivo , meiosis-specific knockdown of AtSCC4 expression does not cause any meiotic defect, suggesting that the SCC2-SCC4 complex has divergent roles in mitosis and meiosis. SCC2 homologs from land plants have a unique plant homeodomain (PHD) motif not found in other species. We show that the AtSCC2 PHD domain can bind to the N terminus of histones and is required for meiosis but not mitosis. Taken together, our results provide evidence that unlike SCC2 in other organisms, SCC2 requires a functional PHD domain during meiosis in land plants.