Reproduction Abstracts

Introduction: In meiosis, homologous chromosomes pair, synapse, and recombine with their partners in parallel with the formation of the synaptonemal complex, a tripartite structure with two axial elements connected by transverse filaments. It has been demonstrated that two meiosis-specific cohesin subunits, RAD21L and REC8 are essential for the formation of the axial elements and homologous chromosome recombination. However, it is unknown how they are involved in synapsis and ...

Introduction: Multi-subunit protein complexes, called condensin I and condensin II, play a pivotal role in construction and segregation of mitotic chromosomes in many organisms. In mammals, however, previous studies examining condensins’ function are limited to siRNA-mediated knockdown experiments using some established cell lines. Hence the roles of both condensins in mammalian development have remained to be solved. In the present study, we have investigated defective p...