How do meiotic chromosomes meet their homologous partners?: lessons from fission yeast

Homologous chromosome pairing is required for proper chromosome segregation and recombination during meiosis, The mechanism by which a pair of homolog ous chromosomes contact each other to establish pairing is not fully unders tood. When pairing occurs during meiotic prophase in the fission yeast, Sch izosaccharomyces pombe, the nucleus oscillates between the cell poles and t elomeres remain clustered at the leading edge of the moving nucleus, These meiosis-specific activities produce movements of telomere-bundled chromosom es. Several lines of evidence suggest that these movements facilitate homol ogous chromosome pairing by aligning homologous chromosomes and promoting c ontact between homologous regions. Since telomere clustering and nuclear or chromosome movements in meiotic prophase have been observed in a wide rang e of eukaryotic organisms, it is suggested that telomere-mediated chromosom e movements are general activities that facilitate homologous chromosome pa iring. (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.