{"doi":"10.1101/2023.03.04.531117","title":"Chromatin binding by HORMAD proteins regulates meiotic recombination initiation","abstract":"Abstract The meiotic chromosome axis coordinates chromosome organization and interhomolog recombination in meiotic prophase and is essential for fertility. In S. cerevisiae , the HORMAD protein Hop1 mediates enrichment of axis proteins at nucleosome-rich genomic islands through a central chromatin-binding region (CBR). Here, we use cryoelectron microscopy to show that the Hop1 CBR directly recognizes bent nucleosomal DNA through a composite interface in its PHD and winged helix-turn-helix domains. Targeted disruption of the Hop1 CBR-nucleosome interface causes loss of axis proteins from nucleosome-rich islands, reduces meiotic DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), and leads to defects in chromosome synapsis. Synthetic effects with the disassemblase Pch2 suggest that nucleosome binding delays a conformational switch in Hop1 from a DSB-promoting, Pch2-inaccessible state to a DSB-inactive, Pch2-accessible state to regulate the extent of meiotic DSB formation. Phylogenetic analyses of meiotic HORMADs reveal an ancient origin of this domain, suggesting that these mechanisms are broadly conserved.","journal":"bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)","year":2023,"id":393024,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":4,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9573,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2023-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":873985,"name":"Sarah N. Ur","orcid":"0000-0002-7320-6099","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":847688,"name":"Yajie Gu","orcid":"0000-0002-1514-1477","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":311426,"name":"Eelco C. Tromer","orcid":"0000-0003-3540-7727","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1166943,"name":"Jessie Zhang","orcid":"0009-0009-3189-2586","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":376556,"name":"Andreas Hochwagen","orcid":"0000-0002-6184-443X","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":106560,"name":"Kevin D. Corbett","orcid":"0000-0001-5854-2388","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":873984,"name":"Carolyn R. Milano","orcid":"0000-0003-1261-3763","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":80,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T01:19:01.355412Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}