DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are induced by SPO11 during meiosis to initiate recombination-mediated pairing and synapsis of homologous chromosomes. Germline genome integrity requires spatiotemporal control of DSB formation, which involves the proteinaceous chromosome axis along the core of each meiotic chromosome. In particular, a component of unsynapsed axes, HORMAD1, promotes DSB formation in unsynapsed regions where DSB formation must occur to ensure completion of synapsis. Despite its importance, the underlying mechanism has remained elusive. We identify CCDC36 as a direct interactor of HORMAD1 (IHO1) that is essential for DSB formation. Underpinning this function, IHO1 and conserved SPO11-auxiliary proteins MEI4 and REC114 assemble chromatin-bound recombinosomes that are predicted activators of DSB formation. HORMAD1 is needed for robust recruitment of IHO1 to unsynapsed axes and efficient formation and/or stabilization of these recombinosomes. Thus we propose that HORMAD1-IHO1 interaction provides a mechanism for the selective promotion of DSB formation along unsynapsed chromosome axes.

In mammals, homologs that fail to synapse during meiosis are transcriptionally inactivated. This process, meiotic silencing, drives inactivation of the heterologous XY bivalent in male germ cells (meiotic sex chromosome inactivation [MSCI]) and is thought to act as a meiotic surveillance mechanism. The checkpoint protein ATM and Rad3-related (ATR) localizes to unsynapsed chromosomes, but its role in the initiation and maintenance of meiotic silencing is unknown. Here we show that ATR has multiple roles in silencing. ATR first regulates HORMA (Hop1, Rev7, and Mad2) domain protein HORMAD1/2 phosphorylation and localization of breast cancer I (BRCA1) and ATR cofactors ATR-interacting peptide (ATRIP)/topoisomerase 2-binding protein 1 (TOPBP1) at unsynapsed axes. Later, it acts as an adaptor, transducing signaling at unsynapsed axes into surrounding chromatin in a manner that requires interdependence with mediator of DNA damage checkpoint 1 (MDC1) and H2AFX. Finally, ATR catalyzes histone H2AFX phosphorylation, the epigenetic event leading to gene inactivation. Using a novel genetic strategy in which MSCI is used to silence a chosen gene in pachytene, we show that ATR depletion does not disrupt the maintenance of silencing and that silencing comprises two phases: The first is dynamic and reversible, and the second is stable and irreversible. Our work identifies a role for ATR in the epigenetic regulation of gene expression and presents a new technique for ablating gene function in the germline.

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Meiotic crossover formation involves the repair of programmed DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) and synaptonemal complex (SC) formation. Completion of these processes must precede the meiotic divisions in order to avoid chromosome abnormalities in gametes. Enduring key questions in meiosis have been how meiotic progression and crossover formation are coordinated, whether inappropriate asynapsis is monitored, and whether asynapsis elicits prophase arrest via mechanisms that are distinct from the surveillance of unrepaired DNA DSBs. We disrupted the meiosis-specific mouse HORMAD2 (Hop1, Rev7, and Mad2 domain 2) protein, which preferentially associates with unsynapsed chromosome axes. We show that HORMAD2 is required for the accumulation of the checkpoint kinase ATR along unsynapsed axes, but not at DNA DSBs or on DNA DSBassociated chromatin loops. Consistent with the hypothesis that ATR activity on chromatin plays important roles in the quality control of meiotic prophase, HORMAD2 is required for the elimination of the asynaptic Spo11 -/-, but not the asynaptic and DSB repair-defective Dmc1 -/-oocytes. Our observations strongly suggest that HORMAD2-dependent recruitment of ATR to unsynapsed chromosome axes constitutes a mechanism for the surveillance of asynapsis. Thus, we provide convincing evidence for the existence of a distinct asynapsis surveillance mechanism that safeguards the ploidy of the mammalian germline.[Keywords: asynapsis surveillance; meiotic prophase checkpoint; ATR; HORMA domain; meiosis; aneuploidy] Supplemental material is available for this article. Received January 30, 2012; revised version accepted March 19, 2012. Orderly chromosome segregation during the first meiotic division requires that homologous maternal and paternal chromosomes (called homologs) become physically linked, thereby forming so-called bivalents during the first meiotic prophase (Page and Hawley 2003). In most organisms, including mammals, meiotic recombination generates reciprocal exchanges, called crossovers (COs), between homologous DNA sequences. Interhomolog COs and sister chromatid cohesion together form the basis of the physical linkages, called chiasmata, that connect pairs of homologs during the first meiotic metaphase. Therefore, at least one CO must form between each pair of homologs to ensure correct segregation during the first meiotic division.CO formation requires that homologs find each other. To achieve this, double-strand breaks (DSBs) are actively introduced into the genome at the beginning of prophase by the SPO11 enzyme (Keeney et al. 1997;Baudat et al. 2000;Romanienko and Camerini-Otero 2000). This is followed by the resection of DSB ends, which creates 39 ssDNA overhangs (Neale et al. 2005). The RAD51 and DMC1 recombinases bind single-stranded DSB ends and assist homology search through promoting strand invasion of resected DSB ends into homologous DNA sequences (Baudat and de Massy 2007). Several DSB ends work in parallel on each pair of homologs to ensure alignment along the full lengths of homolo...

In most taxa, halving of chromosome numbers during meiosis requires that homologous chromosomes (homologues) pair and form crossovers. Crossovers emerge from the recombination-mediated repair of programmed DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). DSBs are generated by SPO11, whose activity requires auxiliary protein complexes, called pre-DSB recombinosomes. To elucidate the spatiotemporal control of the DSB machinery, we focused on an essential SPO11 auxiliary protein, IHO1, which serves as the main anchor for pre-DSB recombinosomes on chromosome cores, called axes. We discovered that DSBs restrict the DSB machinery by at least four distinct pathways in mice. Firstly, by activating the DNA damage response (DDR) kinase ATM, DSBs restrict pre-DSB recombinosome numbers without affecting IHO1. Secondly, in their vicinity, DSBs trigger IHO1 depletion mainly by another DDR kinase, ATR. Thirdly, DSBs enable homologue synapsis, which promotes the depletion of IHO1 and pre-DSB recombinosomes from synapsed axes. Finally, DSBs and three DDR kinases, ATM, ATR and PRKDC, enable stage-specific depletion of IHO1 from all axes. We hypothesize that these four negative feedback pathways protect genome integrity by ensuring that DSBs form without excess, are well-distributed, and are restricted to genomic locations and prophase stages where DSBs are functional for promoting homologue pairing and crossover formation.