Finding and keeping your partner during meiosis

Abstract

HIM-3 is a meiosis-specific protein that localizes to the cores of chromosomes from the earliest stages of prophase I until the metaphase to anaphase I transition in Caenarhabditis elegans. him-3 mutations disrupt homolog alignment, synopsis, and recombination and we propose that the association of HIM-3 with chromosome axes is a critical event in meiotic chromosome morphogenesis that is required for the proper coordination of these processes. The presence of HIM-3-like proteins in other eukaryotes, some of which are known to be required for synapsis and recombination, suggests the existence of a conserved class of axis-associated proteins that function at the junction of essential meiotic processes.