This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: A protein complex known as DREAM that normally puts the brakes on genes may also be crucial for reproduction in plants, according to new research published in Science Advances. In thale cress, DREAM appears to switch on genes during meiosis that are important for the exchange of genetic material.
But when the complex is missing, reproductive development becomes defective and fertility is severely reduced. During meiosis, chromosomes must be distributed with great precision. This requires genes to be active and proteins to be present at the correct location, time and concentration.
Consequently, the entire process needs to be tightly regulated. As part of her Ph.D. project at the University of Hamburg, Hasibe Tunçay, a molecular biologist and postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), investigated which molecular regulators control this process in thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana, A. thaliana). Her research has shed new light on the importance of the DREAM complex.
Since related DREAM complexes also affect reproduction in animals, the findings may point to an evolutionarily conserved mechanism underlying fertility across many organisms. The research was carried out in collaboration with the Université Paris-Saclay, Fudan University and South China Agricultural University. In sexually reproducing organisms, there are two fundamental types of cell division: mitosis and meiosis.
During mitosis, one cell produces two largely identical daughter cells. This process is important for an organism's development and growth, as well as for tissue renewal and maintenance. Meiosis, by contrast, produces reproductive cells with half the usual number of chromosomes.
The full chromosome set is restored only upon fertilization. For meiosis to work, genes need to be switched on at the right time so that they can be transcribed into RNA. This RNA can then serve as the blueprint for proteins needed to carry out the process.
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