Abstract
During meiosis, maternal and paternal chromosomes undergo exchanges by homologous recombination. This is essential for fertility and contributes to genome evolution. In many eukaryotes, sites of meiotic recombination, also called hotspots, are regions of accessible chromatin, but in many vertebrates, their location follows a distinct pattern and is specified by PR domain-containing protein 9 (PRDM9). The specification of meiotic recombination hotspots is achieved by the different activities of PRDM9: DNA binding, histone methyltransferase, and interaction with other proteins. Remarkably, PRDM9 activity leads to the erosion of its own binding sites and the rapid evolution of its DNA-binding domain. PRDM9 may also contribute to reproductive isolation, as it is involved in hybrid sterility potentially due to a reduction of its activity in specific heterozygous contexts.
Publication types
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
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Review
MeSH terms
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Amino Acid Sequence
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Animals
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Binding Sites
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Chromosome Mapping*
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DNA-Binding Proteins
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Evolution, Molecular
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Fertility
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Heterozygote
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Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase / genetics*
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Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase / metabolism
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Homologous Recombination
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Humans
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Infertility
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Male
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Meiosis*
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Mice
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Protein Conformation
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Reproductive Isolation
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Spermatocytes
Substances
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DNA-Binding Proteins
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Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase
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PRDM9 protein, human
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prdm9 protein, mouse
Grants and funding
BdM was funded by grants from the Centre National pour la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), the European Research Council Executive Agency under the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013 Grant Agreement no. [322788]), by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-15-CE12-0010-01/DaSiRe), and by the Fondation Bettencourt-Schueller. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.