Epigenetic control of meiotic recombination in Drosophila

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Gunter Reuter (†)
• Subject Area: Cell Biology
• Term: from 2009 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 117267854

The main aim of our studies consists in resolving epigenetic processes, which control meiotic recombination in Drosophila. Analysis of histone modifications at SCs revealed abundant H3K9me3 and H3K27 methylation marks suggesting a preferential heterochromatin like state of chromatin at synaptonemal complexes. Abundant binding of proteins controlling gene silencing could also be demonstrated. Mutant analysis suggests a central role of the histone methyltransferases SETDB1 and E(Z) in control of chromatin organization at SCs. An impact of chromatin organization on recombination frequency and crossover distribution is indicated by first data of high-resolution crossover mapping in selected genomic regions. In our further studies we focus on the analysis of epigenetic factors which control epigenetic indexing and higher order structure of chromatin at synaptonemal complexes. By high-resolution crossover analysis the impact of these factors on crossover frequency and distribution will be studied.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1384: Mechanisms of Genome Haploidisation