PRDM9 Methyltransferase Activity Is Essential for Meiotic DNA Double-Strand Break Formation at Its Binding Sites
MOLECULAR CELL
Authors: Diagouraga, Boubou; Clement, Julie A. J.; Duret, Laurent; Kadlec, Jan; de Massy, Bernard; Baudat, Frederic
Abstract
The programmed formation of hundreds of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) is essential for proper meiosis and fertility. In mice and humans, the location of these breaks is determined by the meiosis-specific protein PRDM9, through the DNA-binding specificity of its zinc-finger domain. PRDM9 also has methyltransferase activity. Here, we show that this activity is required for H3K4me3 and H3K36me3 deposition and for DSB formation at PRDM9-binding sites. By analyzing mice that express two PRDM9 variants with distinct DNA-binding specificities, we show that each variant generates its own set of H3K4me3 marks independently from the other variant. Altogether, we reveal several basic principles of PRDM9-dependent DSB site determination, in which an excess of sites are designated through PRDM9 binding and subsequent histone methylation, from which a subset is selected for DSB formation.
The landscape of recombination in African Americans
NATURE
Authors: Hinch, Anjali G.; Tandon, Arti; Patterson, Nick; Song, Yunli; Rohland, Nadin; Palmer, Cameron D.; Chen, Gary K.; Wang, Kai; Buxbaum, Sarah G.; Akylbekova, Ermeg L.; Aldrich, Melinda C.; Ambrosone, Christine B.; Amos, Christopher; Bandera, Elisa V.; Berndt, Sonja I.; Bernstein, Leslie; Blot, William J.; Bock, Cathryn H.; Boerwinkle, Eric; Cai, Qiuyin; Caporaso, Neil; Casey, Graham; Cupples, L. Adrienne; Deming, Sandra L.; Diver, W. Ryan; Divers, Jasmin; Fornage, Myriam; Gillanders, Elizabeth M.; Glessner, Joseph; Harris, Curtis C.; Hu, Jennifer J.; Ingles, Sue A.; Isaacs, William; John, Esther M.; Kao, W. H. Linda; Keating, Brendan; Kittles, Rick A.; Kolonel, Laurence N.; Larkin, Emma; Le Marchand, Loic; McNeill, Lorna H.; Millikan, Robert C.; Murphy, Adam; Musani, Solomon; Neslund-Dudas, Christine; Nyante, Sarah; Papanicolaou, George J.; Press, Michael F.; Psaty, Bruce M.; Reiner, Alex P.; Rich, Stephen S.; Rodriguez-Gil, Jorge L.; Rotter, Jerome I.; Rybicki, Benjamin A.; Schwartz, Ann G.; Signorello, Lisa B.; Spitz, Margaret; Strom, Sara S.; Thun, Michael J.; Tucker, Margaret A.; Wang, Zhaoming; Wiencke, John K.; Witte, John S.; Wrensch, Margaret; Wu, Xifeng; Yamamura, Yuko; Zanetti, Krista A.; Zheng, Wei; Ziegler, Regina G.; Zhu, Xiaofeng; Redline, Susan; Hirschhorn, Joel N.; Henderson, Brian E.; Taylor, Herman A., Jr.; Price, Alkes L.; Hakonarson, Hakon; Chanock, Stephen J.; Haiman, Christopher A.; Wilson, James G.; Reich, David; Myers, Simon R.
Abstract
Recombination, together with mutation, gives rise to genetic variation in populations. Here we leverage the recent mixture of people of African and European ancestry in the Americas to build a genetic map measuring the probability of crossing over at each position in the genome, based on about 2.1 million crossovers in 30,000 unrelated African Americans. At intervals of more than three megabases it is nearly identical to a map built in Europeans. At finer scales it differs significantly, and we identify about 2,500 recombination hotspots that are active in people of West African ancestry but nearly inactive in Europeans. The probability of a crossover at these hotspots is almost fully controlled by the alleles an individual carries at PRDM9(P value <10(-245)). We identify a 17-base-pair DNA sequence motif that is enriched in these hotspots, and is an excellent match to the predicted binding target of PRDM9 alleles common in West Africans and rare in Europeans. Sites of this motif are predicted to be risk loci for disease-causing genomic rearrangements in individuals carrying these alleles. More generally, this map provides a resource for research in human genetic variation and evolution.
COA
Publication 
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