Meiotic kinetochore protein MEIKIN (MEIKIN)

MEIKIN is a meiosis-specific kinetochore protein essential for accurate chromosome segregation in meiosis I, where it facilitates the mono-orientation of sister kinetochores and protects centromeric cohesin complexes from premature cleavage. It localizes to kinetochores, stabilizes the cohesin protector shugoshin, and recruits PLK1 to promote meiotic progression. MEIKIN function is tightly regulated: it is cleaved by Separase during anaphase I to generate C-Meikin, which remains active to enable chromosome alignment in meiosis II, and is further degraded by the APC/C ubiquitin ligase in anaphase II. MEIKIN is conserved across eukaryotes, with homologs such as SPO13 in yeast, but it is functionally distinct and not present or active in mitotic or somatic cell divisions.

Other names

Meiotic kinetochore factorMeiosis-specific kinetochore proteinMEIKINSPO13 (yeast ortholog, not the same gene in mammals)