Condensation of chromosomes is essential for mitosis and depends on their recruitment of condensin complexes containing structural maintenance of chromosomes (SMC) proteins and regulators such as CAP-D2. Is the condensation mechanism always the same? In zygotes, condensed paternal chromosomes are less compact than their maternal counterparts, but whether this reflects different condensation mechanisms has never been clear. Philippe Collas and co-workers now show that the condensation mechanisms of maternal and paternal chromosomes in mitotic zygotes do indeed differ (seep. 2931). They find that AKAP95 — a scaffold protein previously shown to recruit condensin to chromatin — is targeted to maternal chromosomes in the female pronucleus but does not enter the male pronucleus. In addition, using peptides that compete with AKAP95, the authors show that AKAP95 is required for recruitment of CAP-D2 to and condensation of maternal but not paternal chromosomes. Collas and co-workers conclude that an AKAP95-independent mechanism recruits condensin during paternal chromosome condensation in zygotes, suggesting that this could affect the degree of compaction of the condensed chromosomes.
Chromosome condensation: maternal and paternal differences
Chromosome condensation: maternal and paternal differences. J Cell Sci 15 July 2002; 115 (14): e1405. doi:
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