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The role of Prdm9 allelic variations and activity in hybrid sterility in mice (2017-2019)

Co-investigator: prom. biol. Jaroslav Piálek, CSc.
Number of Project: 17-04364S
Agency: Czech Science Foundation
Duration: 01. 01. 2017 - 31. 12. 2019

The hybrid sterility is a process of reproductive isolation between closely related species, and thus contributing for their divergence and evolution. In some cases the hybrid sterility is manifested by asynapsis of orthologous chromosomes and male meiotic failure. Studies in the last several years with two mouse inbred strains representing two mouse subspecies showed that the heterozygosity of Prdm9 gene in their F1 hybrid male offspring is the major reason for the observed sterility and meiotic chromosome synapsis failure. Prdm9 is defining the hotspot placement in meiotic recombination by posting trimethylation marks on lysine residues of histone 3. However, its exact role in molecular mechanism  is not clear. To find the connection between meiotic recombination and hybrid sterility, we will study the role of different Prdm9 alleles in F1 mouse hybrid fertility and follow the genome-wide distribution of PRDM9-dependent chromatin marks by using Prdm9 alleles  from natural mouse populations.