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Telomeric TERB1–TRF1 interaction is crucial for male meiosis

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology volume 24, pages 1073–1080 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

During meiotic prophase, the meiosis-specific telomere-binding protein TERB1 regulates chromosome movement required for homologous pairing and recombination by interacting with the telomeric shelterin subunit TRF1. Here, we report the crystal structure of the TRF1-binding motif of human TERB1 in complex with the TRFH domain of TRF1. Notably, specific disruption of the TERB1–TRF1 interaction by a point mutation in the mouse Terb1 gene results in infertility only in males. We find that this mutation causes an arrest in the zygotene–early pachytene stage and mild telomere abnormalities of autosomes but unpaired X and Y chromosomes in pachytene, leading to massive spermatocyte apoptosis. We propose that the loss of telomere structure mediated by the TERB1–TRF1 interaction significantly affects homologous pairing of the telomere-adjacent pseudoautosomal region (PAR) of the X and Y chromosomes in mouse spermatocytes. Our findings uncover a specific mechanism of telomeres that surmounts the unique challenges of mammalian X–Y pairing in meiosis.

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Figure 1: Structural studies of the interaction between TRF1TRFH and TERB1PBM.
Figure 2: Mutational analysis of the TERB1–TRF1 interaction.
Figure 3: Disruption of the TRF1–TERB1 interaction results in failure of spermatogenesis.
Figure 4: Spermatogenesis process is arrested in Terb1AEA/AEA spermatocytes.
Figure 5: The 647AEA649 mutation of TERB1 results in telomere localization defect of TERB1, autosomal telomere aberrance and unpaired X and Y chromosomes.

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Acknowledgements

We thank H. Shi, X. Huang, Q. Shi, M. Tong, and J. Li for discussion. We thank M. Han (Fudan University) for the SUN1 antibody. We thank L. Wu, D. Yao, and R. Zhang from BL18U1 and BL19U1 beamlines at NCPSS and Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF) for help with crystal data collection and processing. We thank Y. Yu, S. He, Y. Wang and S. Li from NCPSS for help with confocal microscopy and FACS. This work was supported by grants from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2013CB910402 to M.L.), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31330040 and 31525007 to M.L., 31500625 to J.W.), the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB08010201 to M.L.), the Outstanding Academic Leader Program of Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (16XD1405000 to M.L. and C.H.), and the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (to J.W.). Y.L. acknowledges support from the Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging.

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  1. Juanjuan Long and Chenhui Huang: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Center for Protein Science Shanghai, State Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China

    Juanjuan Long, Yanyan Chen, Ying Zhang, Shaohua Shi & Ligang Wu

  2. Shanghai Research Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China

    Juanjuan Long, Yanyan Chen, Ying Zhang, Shaohua Shi & Ligang Wu

  3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China

    Juanjuan Long & Yanyan Chen

  4. Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China

    Chenhui Huang, Jian Wu & Ming Lei

  5. Shanghai Institute of Precision Medicine, Shanghai, China

    Chenhui Huang, Jian Wu & Ming Lei

  6. Laboratory of Molecular Gerontology, National Institute on Aging/National Institute of Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

    Yie Liu

  7. Transgenic Core Facility, NHLBI, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA

    Chengyu Liu

  8. Key Laboratory of Cell Differentiation and Apoptosis of Chinese Ministry of Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China

    Ming Lei

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Contributions

J.L., C.H., J.W., and M.L. designed the study. J.L. crystallized the TERB1TBM–TRF1TRFH complex. J.W. collected X-ray data and determined the crystal structure. J.L., C.H., Y.C., and S.S. carried out biochemical assays. J.L., Y.L., C.L., Y.Z., and L.W. participated in the generation of the knock-in mice. J.L., C.H., and Y.C. performed the experiments to characterize the meiotic phenotype. C.H., J.W., and L.M. drafted the manuscript. All authors reviewed and edited the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jian Wu or Ming Lei.

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Integrated supplementary information

Supplementary Figure 1 Characterization of the interaction between TRF1TRFH and TERB1TBM.

Yeast two-hybrid analysis of the interaction between TRF1TRFH with different fragments of TERB1. Interaction between LexA-TRF1TRFH and different GAD-TERB1 fragments was analyzed by measuring the β-galactosidase activity produced by the reporter gene. Data are averages of three independent β-galactosidase measurements normalized to the interaction of TRF1TRFH with TERB1522-622, arbitrarily set to 100. Error bars: standard deviation (s.d.); n=3.

Supplementary Figure 2 Crystal structure of the TRF1TRFH and TERB1TBM complex.

(a) Stereo view of the TRF1TRFH-TERB1TBM complex. The electron density (2Fo-Fc) map of TERB1TBM, contoured at 1.0 σ, is shown in the complex. (b) The electrostatic surface potential of TRF1TRFH responsible for TERB1TBM binding (positive potential, blue; negative potential, red). TERB1TBM is in stick representation and colored in yellow.

Supplementary Figure 3 TERB1TBM and TIN2TBM occupy the same binding pocket on TRF1TRFH.

Electrostatic surface potential of superimposed complex structures, TRF1TRFH-TERB1TBM and TRF1TRFH-TIN2TBM are shown in (a), (b), and (c), respectively. TERB1TBM and TIN2TBM are in stick representation and colored in yellow and cyan.

Supplementary Figure 4 In vitro ITC measurement between TRF1TRFH and mutant TERB1TBM.

All the mutant TERB1TBM disrupt the interaction with TRF1TRFH, consistent with the Co-IP and co-localization data shown in Figure 2.

Supplementary Figure 5 The TERB1 647AEA649 mutant mice were generated using the CRISPR/Cas9 method.

(a) The Cas9/sgRNA-targeting sites in mouse Terb1 gene. The sgRNA-targeting sequence and the protospacer-adjacent motif (PAM) are underlined. The desired mutations on genomic DNA are indicated by lower-case letters. (b) Transgenic mouse offspring were genotyped by tail biopsy with PCR and DNA sequencing of the mutation loci. (c) Relative mRNA expression was determined in testes of 3-week old littermates by RT-qPCR using GAPDH as the loading control. The averaged value for WT was normalized to 1. Results were from three independent experiments. Error bars: standard deviation; n=3. (d) Western blot of TERB1 in testes of two-week-old littermates. β-actin was used as the loading control. The indicated numbers below the blot images represent the relative signals of anti-TERB1 normalized by the signals of anti-Actin. Band intensity of blots was quantified by ImageJ. The number for WT sample was set as 1. Uncropped blot images are shown in Supplementary Data Set 1.

Supplementary Figure 6 Hoechst 33342 fluorescence flow analysis of testicular cells from 6-week-old WT and Terb1AEA/AEA littermates.

(a) Left panel: Schematic diagram summarizes the Hoechst 33342 fluorescent profile of male germinal cells in adult spermatogenesis. Right panel: Hoechst 33342 fluorescence flow analysis of testicular cells from 6-week-old WT and Terb1AEA/AEA littermates. L-Z: subpopulation that mainly comprises leptotene and zygotene spermatocytes. P-D: subpopulation that mainly comprises pachytene and diplotene spermatocytes. Subpopulation was sorted and analyzed by immunofluorescence staining of SYCP3 and γ-H2AX or propidium iodide staining to determine the cell types (data not shown). (b) Quantification of spermatid population in all testicular cells. Statistical significances (*** p<0.01) were assessed by two-tailed t-tests. Error bars: standard deviation; n=4. (c) Quantification of L-Z and P-D subpopulation in all spermatocyte I (4N DNA content). Statistical significances (** p<0.05) were assessed by two-tailed t-tests. Error bars: standard deviation; n=4.

Supplementary Figure 7 Programmed DSB repair and chiasma formation autosomes are largely unaffected in Terb1AEA/AEA spermatocytes.

(a) WT and Terb1AEA/AEA pachytene spermatocytes stained for MLH1 (red), SYCP3 (green) and DAPI (blue). Scale bar: 10 μm. (b) Quantification of the number of MLH1 foci per cell from (a). The mean values were indicated. (c) WT and Terb1AEA/AEA spermatocytes stained for γ-H2AX (red), SYCP3 (green) and DAPI (blue). Scale bar: 10 μm.

Supplementary Figure 8 The 647AEA649 mutation of TERB1 results in telomere localization defect of SUN1.

(a) Cell lysates were prepared with testes from 3-week-old WT, heterozygous and Terb1AEA/AEA mice and immunoprecipitated with TERB1 antibody. Lysate samples and immunoprecipitates were blotted using antibodies as indicated. The indicated numbers below the blot images represent the relative signals of Co-IPed TRF1 normalized by the signals of IPed TERB1. Band intensity of blots was quantified by ImageJ. The number for WT sample was set as 1. Uncropped blot images are shown in Supplementary Data Set 1. (b) Localization of SUN1 (red) and SYCP3 (green) on pachytene spermatocyte spreads from WT and Terb1AEA/AEA mice. Scale bar: 10 μm. (c) Quantification of the relative intensity of SUN1 foci at the termini of synaptic chromosomes in WT and Terb1AEA/AEA pachytene spermatocytes. Three independent experiments with 6-week-old littermates showed similar results. More than 10 spermatocyte spreads were used for quantification for each group. (a.u., arbitrary units)

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Supplementary Data Set 1

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Long, J., Huang, C., Chen, Y. et al. Telomeric TERB1–TRF1 interaction is crucial for male meiosis. Nat Struct Mol Biol 24, 1073–1080 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nsmb.3496

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