Tetrahymena meiosis: Simple yet ingenious.
The presence of meiosis, which is a conserved component of sexual reproduction, across organisms from all eukaryotic kingdoms, strongly argues that sex is a primordial feature of eukaryotes. However, extant meiotic structures and processes can vary considerably between organisms. The ciliated protis...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1009627 |
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doaj-c335d7b140e64ada9d441c95f752e09b2021-07-31T04:30:16ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS Genetics1553-73901553-74042021-07-01177e100962710.1371/journal.pgen.1009627Tetrahymena meiosis: Simple yet ingenious.Josef LoidlThe presence of meiosis, which is a conserved component of sexual reproduction, across organisms from all eukaryotic kingdoms, strongly argues that sex is a primordial feature of eukaryotes. However, extant meiotic structures and processes can vary considerably between organisms. The ciliated protist Tetrahymena thermophila, which diverged from animals, plants, and fungi early in evolution, provides one example of a rather unconventional meiosis. Tetrahymena has a simpler meiosis compared with most other organisms: It lacks both a synaptonemal complex (SC) and specialized meiotic machinery for chromosome cohesion and has a reduced capacity to regulate meiotic recombination. Despite this, it also features several unique mechanisms, including elongation of the nucleus to twice the cell length to promote homologous pairing and prevent recombination between sister chromatids. Comparison of the meiotic programs of Tetrahymena and higher multicellular organisms may reveal how extant meiosis evolved from proto-meiosis.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1009627 |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Josef Loidl |
spellingShingle |
Josef Loidl Tetrahymena meiosis: Simple yet ingenious. PLoS Genetics |
author_facet |
Josef Loidl |
author_sort |
Josef Loidl |
title |
Tetrahymena meiosis: Simple yet ingenious. |
title_short |
Tetrahymena meiosis: Simple yet ingenious. |
title_full |
Tetrahymena meiosis: Simple yet ingenious. |
title_fullStr |
Tetrahymena meiosis: Simple yet ingenious. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Tetrahymena meiosis: Simple yet ingenious. |
title_sort |
tetrahymena meiosis: simple yet ingenious. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
series |
PLoS Genetics |
issn |
1553-7390 1553-7404 |
publishDate |
2021-07-01 |
description |
The presence of meiosis, which is a conserved component of sexual reproduction, across organisms from all eukaryotic kingdoms, strongly argues that sex is a primordial feature of eukaryotes. However, extant meiotic structures and processes can vary considerably between organisms. The ciliated protist Tetrahymena thermophila, which diverged from animals, plants, and fungi early in evolution, provides one example of a rather unconventional meiosis. Tetrahymena has a simpler meiosis compared with most other organisms: It lacks both a synaptonemal complex (SC) and specialized meiotic machinery for chromosome cohesion and has a reduced capacity to regulate meiotic recombination. Despite this, it also features several unique mechanisms, including elongation of the nucleus to twice the cell length to promote homologous pairing and prevent recombination between sister chromatids. Comparison of the meiotic programs of Tetrahymena and higher multicellular organisms may reveal how extant meiosis evolved from proto-meiosis. |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1009627 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT josefloidl tetrahymenameiosissimpleyetingenious |
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