Amy MacQueen
Wesleyan University, CT·Genetics
More than 10% of clinically recognized human pregnancies are aneuploid, meaning the cells carry too many or too few chromosomes. Most of these errors arise during meiosis, the special cell division that makes eggs and sperm by separating the two copies of each chromosome (homologs).
- Fields
Genetics
Biology
Biochemistry
- Topics
meiosis
synaptonemal complex
crossover recombination
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Sep 2028
What they work on
- Define how the N terminus of Zip1, a synaptonemal complex building block, works with the Zip3 SUMO ligase to promote crossover recombination in budding yeast, using structure-function genetic analysis.
- Test how a phosphorylation-based switch controls Zip1's separate crossover-promoting and SC-assembly activities during yeast meiosis.
- Determine how Zip1's pro-crossover activity is coupled to assembly of the synaptonemal complex, including its interactions with the central element proteins Ecm11-Gmc2.
- Use proximity labeling, which tags proteins near a target, to map interactions among crossover and synapsis proteins and identify new partners of Zip1 and Zip3.
More about the research
To separate correctly, homologs must first be linked by crossovers, points where the two chromosomes swap DNA. Crossovers form inside the synaptonemal complex (SC), a zipper-like protein structure that holds partner chromosomes closely aligned. How cells make sure every chromosome pair gets a crossover, and how this is coordinated with building the SC, remains poorly understood.
Why it matters
Errors in chromosome separation during meiosis cause aneuploidy, which affects over 10% of clinically recognized human pregnancies. By defining how crossovers form and are coordinated with synaptonemal complex assembly, this work could inform understanding of the causes of aneuploid pregnancies and related reproductive problems.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Anne M Villeneuve
Stanford University, CA·Genetics
Uncover the mechanisms that ensure every chromosome pair forms a crossover, an exchange that links matching chromosomes so they separate correctly, in C. elegans meiosis.
Nancy E Kleckner
Harvard University, MA·Genetics
Explore recombination-mediated chromosome pairing in budding yeast using 4D low signal-to-noise tracking of locus-specific fluorescent spots, and map global pairing patterns in Sordaria with live imaging and Expansion Microscopy.
Diana Libuda
University of Oregon, OR·Genetics
Test how specific meiotic chromosome structures regulate and respond to repair pathway and partner choice, using in vivo assays in C. elegans that directly detect use of the sister chromatid as a repair template during prophase I.
The school
Wesleyan University: 2 labs on PI Pages, $11M a year on research, 6 research doctorates a year.
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