26 Sanchez-Moran Eugenio 24 Uanschou Clemens Uanschou Clemens et al. 2007 Dec. EMBO J. 26(24):5061-70. Novatchkova Maria Woglar Alexander Schlögelhofer Peter Siwiec Tanja 2007 Dec Akimcheva Svetlana A novel plant gene essential for meiosis is related to the human CtIP and the yeast COM1/SAE2 gene. Kerzendorfer Claudia 5061-70 Klein Franz 18007598 Obligatory homologous recombination (HR) is required for chiasma formation and chromosome segregation in meiosis I. Meiotic HR is initiated by DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), generated by Spo11, a homologue of the archaebacterial topoisomerase subunit Top6A. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Rad50, Mre11 and Com1/Sae2 are essential to process an intermediate of the cleavage reaction consisting of Spo11 covalently linked to the 5' termini of DNA. While Rad50 and Mre11 also confer genome stability to vegetative cells and are well conserved in evolution, Com1/Sae2 was believed to be fungal-specific. Here, we identify COM1/SAE2 homologues in all eukaryotic kingdoms. Arabidopsis thaliana Com1/Sae2 mutants are sterile, accumulate AtSPO11-1 during meiotic prophase and fail to form AtRAd51 foci despite the presence of unrepaired DSBs. Furthermore, DNA fragmentation in AtCom1 is suppressed by eliminating AtSPO11-1. In addition, AtCOM1 is specifically required for mitomycin C resistance. Interestingly, we identified CtIP, an essential protein interacting with the DNA repair machinery, as the mammalian homologue of Com1/Sae2, with important implications for the molecular role of CtIP. Pedrosa-Harand Andrea