scholarly journals THE NUCLEOLUS ORGANIZER REGION OF MAIZE (ZEA MAYS L.): TESTS FOR RIBOSOMAL GENE COMPENSATION OR MAGNIFICATION

Genetics ◽  
1974 ◽  
Vol 77 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-297
Author(s):  
R L Phillips ◽  
D F Weber ◽  
R A Kleese ◽  
S S Wang
Keyword(s):  
Organizer Region ◽  
Nucleolus Organizer Region ◽  
Ribosomal Gene ◽  
Nucleolus Organizer ◽  
Chromosome 6 ◽  
Gene Number ◽  
Normal Number ◽  
Whole Plant ◽  
Gene Compensation ◽  
Maize Plants

ABSTRACT Ribosomal gene compensation and magnification that might be detected on a whole-plant basis was not found in maize. Plants monosomic for chromosome 6 (the NOR chromosome) were compared with monosomic-8 and monosomic-10 plants, disomic sibs, and parental lines. Assuming no rDNA compensation, monosomic-6 plants showed approximately the decrease expected in rRNA cistron number. Monosomic-8 had a normal ribosomal gene number, while monosomic-10 showed a decrease; but further documentation is needed. Besides demonstrating the absence of gene compensation, the results document our previous conclusion that maize chromosome 6 carries DNA complementary to ribosomal RNA. Further documentation was provided from studies with trisomic chromosome 6 plants showing proportional increases in ribosomal gene number. Progeny of the monosomic plants crossed as males to a standard singlecross hybrid possessed expected ribosomal gene numbers suggesting the lack of ribosomal gene magnification.—The ragged (rgd) mutant of maize, suspected of being deficient in rRNA cistrons, had a normal number.

Interstitial NORs, Fragile Sites, and Chromosome Evolution: A Not So Simple Relationship - The Example of Melolontha melolontha and Genus Protaetia (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)

2016 ◽  
Vol 149 (4) ◽  
pp. 304-311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne-Marie Dutrillaux ◽  
Baptiste Carton ◽  
Lauriane Cacheux ◽  
Bernard Dutrillaux
Keyword(s):  
Fragile Site ◽  
Organizer Region ◽  
Nucleolus Organizer Region ◽  
Nucleolus Organizer ◽  
Fragile Sites ◽  
Chromosome 6 ◽  
Simple Relationship ◽  
Apparent Paradox ◽  
Melolontha Melolontha ◽  
Counter Selection

In the present study, the origin of recurrent rearrangements involving chromosome 6 in 3.2% of cells of Melolontha melolontha (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae) was investigated. Various chromosome staining techniques, including C-banding, Giemsa and silver staining, as well as fluorescence in situ hybridization with a human 28S rDNA probe, were applied to M. melolontha chromosome spreads. In addition, related species of the genera Melolontha and Protaetia were studied. On chromosome 6 of M. melolontha, there is a fragile site-like structure which corresponds to an interstitial nucleolus organizer region (NOR). Despite this instability, the NOR remains unique and interstitial in this species, as well as in the other species studied. It is proposed that the intercalary position of the NOR both facilitates the detection of its fragile site-like instability and correlates with its relative stability during evolution. We explain this apparent paradox by strong counter-selection for imbalances of the chromosome fragment distal to the interstitial NORs, which would recurrently occur in the progeny of translocation carriers. Thus, the frequent telomeric position of the NORs in most animal and plant taxa would have no functional rationale but would be the consequence of selection against the meiotic transmission of chromosome imbalances.

Molecular characterization of ribosomal gene variation within and among NORs segregating in specialized populations of chicken

Genome ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary E Delany ◽  
Alex B Krupkin
Keyword(s):  
Copy Number ◽  
Organizer Region ◽  
Nucleolus Organizer Region ◽  
Ribosomal Gene ◽  
Nucleolus Organizer ◽  
Molecular Organization ◽  
Gene Copy ◽  
Coding Region ◽  
Repeat Size ◽  
Red Jungle Fowl

The molecular organization of the 18S, 5.8S, and 28S ribosomal RNA gene repeat units, located at the single nucleolus organizer region (NOR) locus in the chicken, was investigated in genetically distinct populations of research and commercial chickens. Substantial gene repeat variation within and among NORs was documented. Intact ribosomal gene repeat size ranged from 11 kb to over 50 kb. Unique combinations of ribosomal genes, of different size, were specific to particular populations. It was determined that the basis for the ribosomal gene repeat size variation was intergenic spacer (IGS) length heterogeneity. Interestingly, in different populations, the location of the variation that contributes to length heterogeneity was specific to particular IGS subregions. In addition to IGS variation, an inbred line of Red Jungle Fowl exhibited coding region variation. Ribosomal gene copy number variation was also studied, and line averages ranged from 279 to 368. Average rDNA array size (a function of copy number and gene repeat length) was calculated for each of the populations and found to vary over a range of two megabases, from 5 to 7 Mb.Key words: rDNA, NOR, IGS, genetic variation, chicken.

Mapping of the nucleolus organizer region on chromosome 4 inArabidopsis thaliana

1996 ◽  
Vol 250 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-128
Author(s):  
Georg Haberer ◽  
Thilo C. Fischer ◽  
Ramón A. Torres-Ruiz
Keyword(s):  
Organizer Region ◽  
Nucleolus Organizer Region ◽  
Nucleolus Organizer ◽  
Chromosome 4

Hybrid ape offspring of a mating of gibbon and siamang

Science ◽  
1979 ◽  
Vol 205 (4403) ◽  
pp. 308-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
RH Myers ◽  
DA Shafer
Keyword(s):  
Parental Species ◽  
Organizer Region ◽  
Nucleolus Organizer Region ◽  
Structural Rearrangement ◽  
Female Offspring ◽  
Nucleolus Organizer ◽  
Single Chromosome ◽  
Symphalangus Syndactylus ◽  
Hylobates Moloch ◽  
Lesser Apes

The serendipitous mating of a male gibbon, Hylobates moloch, and a female siamang, Symphalangus syndactylus, has produced two female offspring born 1 year apart. The hybrid karyotype of 47 chromosomes comprises the haploid complements of the parental species, 22 for the gibbon and 25 for the siamang. Chromosomal G and C banding comparisons revealed no clear homologies between the parental karyotypes except for the single chromosome in each species containing the nucleolus organizer region. The lack of homology suggests that the structural rearrangement of chromosomes has played a major role in the process of speciation for these lesser apes.

scholarly journals The relationship between position and expression of genes on the kangaroo X chromosome suggests a tissue-specific spread of inactivation from a single control site

1988 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer A. Marshall Graves ◽  
Garey W. Dawson
Keyword(s):  
Alternative Hypothesis ◽  
Organizer Region ◽  
Nucleolus Organizer Region ◽  
Control Site ◽  
Specific Pattern ◽  
Nucleolus Organizer ◽  
Tissue Specific ◽  
Expression Of Genes ◽  
Control Locus ◽  
The Relationship

SummaryIn marsupials, X chromosome inactivation is paternal and incomplete. The tissue-specific pattern of inactivation of X-linked loci (G6PD, PGK, GLA) has been attributed to a piecemeal inactivation of different regions of the X. We here propose an alternative hypothesis, in which inactivation of the marsupial X is a chromosome-wide event, but is differentially regulated in different tissues. This hypothesis was suggested by the relationship between the positions and activity of genes on the kangaroo paternal X. In the absence of an HPRT polymorphism, we have used somatic cell hybridization to assess the activity of the paternal HPRT allele in lymphocytes and fibroblasts. The absence of the paternal X, and of the paternal forms of G6PD or PGK, from 33 cell hybrids made by fusing HPRT-deficient rodent cells with lymphocytes or fibroblasts of heterozygous females, suggests that the HPRT gene on the paternal X is inactive in both tissues and therefore not selectable. Since HPRT is located medially on the Xq near GLA, which shares the same characteristics of activity, we suggest that the locus-specific and tissue-specific patterns of activity result from a differential spread of inactivation from a single control locus, located near HPRT and GLA, outwards in both directions to G6PD and PGK. The nucleolus organizer region on the short arm does not seem to be part of the inactivated unit.

scholarly journals Characterization of AtNUC-L1 Reveals a Central Role of Nucleolin in Nucleolus Organization and Silencing of AtNUC-L2 Gene in Arabidopsis

2007 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 369-379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederic Pontvianne ◽  
Isabel Matía ◽  
Julien Douet ◽  
Sylvette Tourmente ◽  
Francisco J. Medina ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ribosome Biogenesis ◽  
Organizer Region ◽  
Nucleolus Organizer Region ◽  
Normal Growth ◽  
Growth Conditions ◽  
Nucleolus Organizer ◽  
Multifunctional Protein ◽  
Eukaryotic Organism ◽  
Model Plant Arabidopsis Thaliana ◽  
Fibrillar Component

Nucleolin is one of the most abundant protein in the nucleolus and is a multifunctional protein involved in different steps of ribosome biogenesis. In contrast to animals and yeast, the genome of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana encodes two nucleolin-like proteins, AtNUC-L1 and AtNUC-L2. However, only the AtNUC-L1 gene is ubiquitously expressed in normal growth conditions. Disruption of this AtNUC-L1 gene leads to severe plant growth and development defects. AtNUC-L1 is localized in the nucleolus, mainly in the dense fibrillar component. Absence of this protein in Atnuc-L1 plants induces nucleolar disorganization, nucleolus organizer region decondensation, and affects the accumulation levels of pre-rRNA precursors. Remarkably, in Atnuc-L1 plants the AtNUC-L2 gene is activated, suggesting that AtNUC-L2 might rescue, at least partially, the loss of AtNUC-L1. This work is the first description of a higher eukaryotic organism with a disrupted nucleolin-like gene and defines a new role for nucleolin in nucleolus structure and rDNA chromatin organization.

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