Grant: Operating Grant

The germ line of humans and other sexually reproducing species functions to produce the eggs and sperm that fuse to form an individual. To produce viable offspring, the egg and sperm must each contain exactly half of the parental number of chromosomes, an event carried out by meiotic divisions during which identical maternal and paternal chromosomes are paired, and then segregated away from each other. Little is known about how the identical chromosomes recognize each other and pair up, and in this application we propose to identify the proteins that function in the process using a model system that is amenable to genetic analysis and microcopic analysis, the nematode C. elegans. Since these processes are highly conserved, our study will illuminate the mechanisms by which eggs and sperm receive the correct number of chromosomes, an event essential for the survival and development of the next generation.