Delineation of joint molecule resolution pathways in meiosis identifies a crossover-specific resolvase.

At the final step of homologous recombination, Holliday junction-containing joint molecules (JMs) are resolved to form crossover or noncrossover products. The enzymes responsible for JM resolution in vivo remain uncertain, but three distinct endonucleases capable of resolving JMs in vitro have been identified: Mus81-Mms4(EME1), Slx1-Slx4(BTBD12), and Yen1(GEN1). Using physical monitoring of recombination during budding yeast meiosis, we show that all three endonucleases are capable of promoting JM resolution in vivo. However, in mms4 slx4 yen1 triple mutants, JM resolution and crossing over occur efficiently. Paradoxically, crossing over in this background is strongly dependent on the Blooms helicase ortholog Sgs1, a component of a well-characterized anticrossover activity. Sgs1-dependent crossing over, but not JM resolution per se, also requires XPG family nuclease Exo1 and the MutLγ complex Mlh1-Mlh3. Thus, Sgs1, Exo1, and MutLγ together define a previously undescribed meiotic JM resolution pathway that produces the majority of crossovers in budding yeast and, by inference, in mammals.

Temporally and biochemically distinct activities of Exo1 during meiosis: double-strand break resection and resolution of double Holliday junctions.

The Rad2/XPG family nuclease, Exo1, functions in a variety of DNA repair pathways. During meiosis, Exo1 promotes crossover recombination and thereby facilitates chromosome segregation at the first division. Meiotic recombination is initiated by programmed DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). Nucleolytic resection of DSBs generates long 3' single-strand tails that undergo strand exchange with a homologous chromosome to form joint molecule (JM) intermediates. We show that meiotic DSB resection is dramatically reduced in exo1Δ mutants and test the idea that Exo1-catalyzed resection promotes crossing over by facilitating formation of crossover-specific JMs called double Holliday junctions (dHJs). Contrary to this idea, dHJs form at wild-type levels in exo1Δ mutants, implying that Exo1 has a second function that promotes resolution of dHJs into crossovers. Surprisingly, the dHJ resolution function of Exo1 is independent of its nuclease activities but requires interaction with the putative endonuclease complex, Mlh1-Mlh3. Thus, the DSB resection and procrossover functions of Exo1 during meiosis involve temporally and biochemically distinct activities.

Single Holliday junctions are intermediates of meiotic recombination.

Crossing-over between homologous chromosomes facilitates their accurate segregation at the first division of meiosis. Current models for crossing-over invoke an intermediate in which homologs are connected by two crossed-strand structures called Holliday junctions. Such double Holliday junctions are a prominent intermediate in Saccharomyces cerevisiae meiosis, where they form preferentially between homologs rather than between sister chromatids. In sharp contrast, we find that single Holliday junctions are the predominant intermediate in Schizosaccharomyces pombe meiosis. Furthermore, these single Holliday junctions arise preferentially between sister chromatids rather than between homologs. We show that Mus81 is required for Holliday junction resolution, providing further in vivo evidence that the structure-specific endonuclease Mus81-Eme1 is a Holliday junction resolvase. To reconcile these observations, we present a unifying recombination model applicable for both meiosis and mitosis in which single Holliday junctions arise from single- or double-strand breaks, lesions postulated by previous models to initiate recombination.