Spo11-Independent Meiosis in Social Amoebae.

Spo11-Independent Meiosis in Social Amoebae.
Annu Rev Microbiol. 2018 Jun 20;:
Authors: Bloomfield G
Abstract
Sex in social amoebae (or dictyostelids) has a number of striking features. Dictyostelid zygotes do not proliferate but grow to a large size by feeding on other cells of the same species, each zygote ultimately forming a walled structure called a macrocyst. The diploid macrocyst nucleus undergoes meiosis, after which a single meiotic product survives to restart haploid vegetative growth. Meiotic recombination is generally initiated by the Spo11 enzyme, which introduces DNA double-strand breaks. Uniquely, as far as is known among sexual eukaryotes, dictyostelids lack a SPO11 gene. Despite this, recombination occurs at high frequencies during meiosis in dictyostelids, through unknown mechanisms. The molecular processes underlying these events, and the evolutionary drivers that brought them into being, may shed light on the genetic conflicts that occur within and between genomes, and how they can be resolved. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Microbiology Volume 72 is September 8, 2018. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
PMID: 29924686 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Source: Annual Review of Microbiology - June 20, 2018 Category: Microbiology Authors: Bloomfield G Tags: Annu Rev Microbiol Source Type: research