# Investigating the role of Polo-like kinase in regulating synaptonemal complex dynamics

> **NIH NIH F31** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $48,974

## Abstract

In sexually reproducing organisms, the flow of genetic information from parent to offspring relies on
meiosis, a specialized cell division where haploid gametes are produced from diploid cells. Successful
chromosome segregation in meiosis requires pairing, synapsis, and crossover formation between homologous
chromosomes during prophase I. Synapsis involves the assembly of a zipper-like protein structure called the
synaptonemal complex (SC) that forms between two paired homologs and functions as a scaffold for crossover
recombination. Recent evidence shows that the SC has liquid crystalline properties, allowing for chromosome-
wide signal transduction to regulate the number and distribution of crossovers. In C. elegans, SC materials form
spherical aggregates in the absence of chromosome axes, called polycomplexes, and recruit factors required
for crossover formation as a single focus, recapitulating its robust crossover control in normal meiosis. Despite
the conserved structure and function of the SC, it remains unknown what drives phase separation of the SC and
how its liquid-like properties are regulated during meiotic progression. Polo-like kinases (PLKs) are a family of
conserved cell-cycle kinases that orchestrate meiotic prophase events via waves of phosphorylation. This
proposal is based on my preliminary data hinting that PLKs provide the liquid-like properties of the SC and its
affinity to crossover factors in the genetically tractable model organism C. elegans. Here I propose to further
elucidate the role of PLKs by combining C. elegans genetics, live imaging, biochemical purification, and
quantitative phosphoproteomics. In Aim 1, I will use a strain lacking chromosome axes as an experimental
platform and perform time-lapse microscopy of SC polycomplexes to determine how PLKs modulate their fusion,
sphericity, and turnover. Liquid-liquid phase separation is often regulated in space and time by phosphorylation.
In Aim 2, I will test the hypothesis that PLKs regulate dynamic properties of the SC by phosphorylating its
components during meiotic progression. I will purify biochemical quantities of SC materials from C. elegans
lysates with or without PLK-2 and map PLK-mediated phosphorylation sites by comparing levels of
phosphopeptides within the SC using mass spectrometry and chemical labeling. This effort will be complemented
by my ongoing work using phospho-specific antibodies, which I have raised against several PLK consensus
motifs within the disordered C-terminal tails of two paralogous SC components, SYP-5 and SYP-6. SYP-5 and
SYP-6 are robustly phosphorylated upon meiotic entry in a PLK-dependent manner, and this is critical for
initiating SC assembly in early meiotic prophase. I will continue to characterize PLK phosphosites within the SC
by raising phospho-specific antibodies. I will determine the biological significance of conserved PLK
phosphorylation sites by targeted mutagenesis. Overall, this work will provide insights into th...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10831836
- **Project number:** 5F31GM150277-02
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Ariel Larissa Gold
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $48,974
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-05-01 → 2025-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10831836

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10831836, Investigating the role of Polo-like kinase in regulating synaptonemal complex dynamics (5F31GM150277-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10831836. Licensed CC0.

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