Anne Villeneuve
Academic Appointments
- Professor, Developmental Biology
- Professor, Genetics
- Member, Bio-X
Contact Information
-
Academic Offices
Personal Information Email
Professional Snapshot
Honors and Awards
- Beginning Faculty Investigator Award, Baxter Foundation (1995)
- Searle Scholars Award, Chicago Community Trust (1996-99)
- Esther Ehrman Lazard Faculty Scholar, Stanford University (1996, 1997, 1998)
- Junior Faculty Scholar Award, HHMI (1999)
- Kirsch Investigator Award, Steven and Michele Kirsch Foundation (2003-2004)
Professional Education
| B.S.: | University of Notre Dame, Biochemistry (1981) |
| Ph.D.: | M.I.T., Biology (1989) |
Postdoctoral Advisees
Jessica Bessler, Diana Libuda, Susanna Mlynarczyk-Evans, Mara Schvarzstein, Sarah Wignall, Karl Zawadzki
Graduate & Fellowship Program Affiliations
Scientific Focus
Research Interests
We investigate mechanisms underlying the faithful inheritance of eukaryotic chromosomes. Our primary focus is on elucidating the events required for orderly segregation of homologous chromosomes during meiosis, the crucial process by which diploid germ cells generate haploid gametes. These events are of central importance to sexually reproducing organisms, since errors in meiosis lead to chromosomal aneuploidy, one of the leading causes of miscarriages and birth defects in humans.
Diploid germ cells face several major challenges on the road to reducing their ploidy to generate haploid gametes: 1) Chromosomes must locate, identify and align with their appropriate homologous pairing partners. 2) Chromosomes must acquire a structural organization that will promote controlled breakage of DNA molecules and subsequent recombinational repair using the homologous chromosome as a repair partner to yield interhomolog crossovers. 3) Chromosomes must couple the events of recombination with further structural reorganization to yield an organization in which homologs are connected by chiasmata, yet oriented away from each other in a way that promotes their attachment to and segregation toward opposite poles of the meiosis I spindle. Moreover, the connections afforded by chiasmata must be coupled with a two-step loss of cohesion, such that partial loss of cohesion occurs at meiosis I to permit dissolution of chiasmata and homolog separation while maintaining the connections between sisters required to permit bipolar attachment on the meiosis II spindle. 4) During oocyte meiosis, a bipolar spindle must be assembled and function without the aid of centrosomes. All of these events must be tightly coordinated to achieve a successful outcome.
Despite the fundamental importance of meiosis, the mechanisms underlying many key events remain poorly understood. We are approaching the study of meiosis using the nematode C. elegans, a simple metazoan that is especially amenable...
Publications
- Ensuring an exit strategy: RTEL1 restricts rogue recombination. Cell. 2008; (2): 213-5
- Crossovers trigger a remodeling of meiotic chromosome axis composition that is linked to two-step loss of sister chromatid cohesion. Genes Dev. 2008; (20): 2886-901
- Differential timing of S phases, X chromosome replication, and meiotic prophase in the C. elegans germ line. Dev Biol. 2007; (1): 206-21
- A role for Caenorhabditis elegans chromatin-associated protein HIM-17 in the proliferation vs. meiotic entry decision. Genetics. 2007; (4): 2029-37
- C. elegans germ cells switch between distinct modes of double-strand break repair during meiotic prophase progression. PLoS Genet. 2007; (11): e191
Help