The initiation of meiotic chromosome pairing: the cytological view

Genome ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 759-778 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josef Loidl
Keyword(s):  
Synaptonemal Complex ◽  
Chromosome Pairing ◽  
Meiotic Chromosome ◽  
Meiotic Pairing ◽  
Cytological Evidence ◽  
Homologous Chromosomes ◽  
Synaptonemal Complex Formation ◽  
Meiotic Synapsis ◽  
The One ◽  
First Contact

Opposing views are held with respect to the time when and the mechanisms whereby homologous chromosomes find each other for meiotic synapsis. On the one hand, some evidence has been presented for somatic homologous associations or some other kind of relationship between chromosomes in somatic cells as a preliminary to meiotic pairing. On the other hand, it is argued by many that homologous contacts are first established at meiotic prophase prior to, or in the course of, synaptonemal complex formation. The present paper reviews the controversial cytological evidence, hypotheses, and ideas on how the first contact between homologous chromosomes comes about.Key words: synapsis, meiosis, presynaptic alignment, homologous recognition, synaptonemal complex, chromosome pairing.

Inferences from genetical evidence on the course of meiotic chromosome pairing in plants

1977 ◽  
Vol 277 (955) ◽  
pp. 313-326 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Chromosome Pairing ◽  
Developmental Stages ◽  
Meiotic Chromosome ◽  
Critical Assessment ◽  
Gene Control ◽  
Meiotic Pairing ◽  
Homologous Chromosomes ◽  
Meiotic Chromosome Pairing ◽  
Combined Use ◽  
Or Gene

Meiotic chromosome pairing is a process that is amenable to genetic and experimental analysis. The combined use of these two approaches allows for the process to be dissected into several finite periods of time in which the developmental stages of pairing can be precisely located. Evidence is now available, in particular in plants, that shows that the pairing of homologous chromosomes, as observed at metaphase I, is affected by events occurring as early as the last premeiotic mitosis; and that the maintenance of this early determined state is subsequently maintained by constituents (presumably proteins) that are sensitive to either colchicine, temperature or gene control. A critical assessment of this evidence in wheat and a comparison of the process of pairing in wheat with the course of meiotic pairing in other plants and animals is presented.

Complete meiotic pairing of crested newt chromosomes

Genome ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 38 (6) ◽  
pp. 1105-1111 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Wallace ◽  
B. M. N. Wallace
Keyword(s):  
Synaptonemal Complex ◽  
Genome Size ◽  
Chromosome Pairing ◽  
Meiotic Pairing ◽  
Homologous Chromosomes ◽  
Direct Observations ◽  
Crested Newt ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Complex Length ◽  
Complex Genome

The longest chromosome (number 1) of Trituturus cristatus carries a heteromorphic segment, a heterozygosity perpetuated by a balanced lethal system. The heteromorphic segment is regarded as achiasmate and has been claimed to be asynaptic. Direct observations of chromosome pairing in spermatocytes and oocytes yield some cases where all homologous chromosomes appear to be completely paired, but the individual bivalents could not be identified as pachytene is not particularly clear in this species. The long arms of bivalent 1 usually remain attached by a terminal chiasma in spermatocytes of T. c. cristatus but the corresponding chiasma is only rarely present in T. c. carnifex spermatocytes. Synaptonemal complexes have been measured in both spermatocytes and oocytes of T. c. cristatus. A karyotype constructed from these measurements matches the main features of somatic and lampbrush chromosome karyotypes, indicating that all chromosomes must be completely paired and proportionately represented as synaptonemal complex. The total length of synaptonemal complex is much the same in spermatocytes and oocytes and is similar to the length in spermatocytes of Xenopus laevis. These two amphibian examples supplement a recent survey of other vertebrate classes to reinforce its conclusion that synaptonemal complex length is not related to genome size in vertebrates.Key words: chromosome pairing, synaptonemal complex, genome size, amphibia.

scholarly journals Meiotic chromosome pairing in triploid and tetraploid Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Genetics ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 139 (4) ◽  
pp. 1511-1520 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Loidl
Keyword(s):  
Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽  
Complex Formation ◽  
Chromosome Segregation ◽  
Chromosome Pairing ◽  
Meiotic Chromosome ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Spore Viability ◽  
Homologous Chromosomes ◽  
Meiotic Chromosome Pairing ◽  
Synaptonemal Complex Formation

Abstract Meiotic chromosome pairing in isogenic triploid and tetraploid strains of yeast and the consequences of polyploidy on meiotic chromosome segregation are studied. Synaptonemal complex formation at pachytene was found to be different in the triploid and in the tetraploid. In the triploid, triple-synapsis, that is, the connection of three homologues at a given site, is common. It can even extend all the way along the chromosomes. In the tetraploid, homologous chromosomes mostly come in pairs of synapsed bivalents. Multiple synapsis, that is, synapsis of more than two homologues in one and the same region, was virtually absent in the tetraploid. About five quadrivalents per cell occurred due to the switching of pairing partners. From the frequency of pairing partner switches it can be deduced that in most chromosomes synapsis is initiated primarily at one end, occasionally at both ends and rarely at an additional intercalary position. In contrast to a considerably reduced spore viability (approximately 40%) in the triploid, spore viability is only mildly affected in the tetraploid. The good spore viability is presumably due to the low frequency of quadrivalents and to the highly regular 2:2 segregation of the few quadrivalents that do occur. Occasionally, however, quadrivalents appear to be subject to 3:1 nondisjunction that leads to spore death in the second generation.

Synaptic mutants in hexaploid oats (Avena sativa L.)

Genome ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. W. Rines ◽  
S. S. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Chromosome Pairing ◽  
Sodium Azide ◽  
Avena Sativa ◽  
Seed Set ◽  
Single Gene ◽  
Inheritance Pattern ◽  
Late Prophase ◽  
Homologous Chromosomes ◽  
Breeding Station ◽  
Meiotic Synapsis

Three meiotic synapsis-deficient mutants of oats (Avena sativa L.) were analyzed to determine their inheritance pattern, detailed chromosomal behavior, and location to chromosome. These highly sterile mutants, one in the cultivar 'Stout' and two in 'Noble', had been recovered from progeny of sodium azide mutagenized populations. Each segregated as a single gene recessive. The only synapsis-deficient variants previously described in hexaploid oats have been nullisomics or ditelosomics. Mutant 'Stout 1212' was classified as asynaptic due to deficiencies in chromosome pairing at all meiotic stages. Mutants 'Noble 1362' and 'Noble 1911' were classified as desynaptic since their homologous chromosomes were paired in early meiosis but they disassociated prematurely in late prophase I. Using a partial monosomic series from the Welsh Plant Breeding Station, mutant 1212 was mapped to monosome XII and is probably a mutation in Syn-5, a gene previously defined only by its nulli effect. Mutants 1362 and 1911 were mapped to monosome IV and are probably mutations in Syn-1, a gene also previously defined only by its nulli effect. Seed set on the synaptic mutant plants in the field was less than 0.2% of that on fertile sibs and likely resulted from pollination by surrounding fertile plants. This seed may serve as a source of unique aneuploid stocks in oats.Key words: meiotic mutants, gene mapping, monosomics, nullisomics, oat cytogenetics.

scholarly journals SHORT GENE CONVERSIONS IN THE HUMAN FETAL GLOBIN GENE REGION: A BY-PRODUCT OF CHROMOSOME PAIRING DURING MEIOSIS?

Genetics ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 112 (2) ◽  
pp. 343-358
Author(s):  
Patricia A Powers ◽  
Oliver Smithies
Keyword(s):  
Chromosome Pairing ◽  
Dna Sequences ◽  
Meiotic Chromosome ◽  
Globin Gene ◽  
Point Mutations ◽  
Globin Genes ◽  
Nucleotide Substitutions ◽  
Sequence Comparisons ◽  
The One ◽  
Gene Conversions

ABSTRACT DNA sequence comparisons of a 1200-base pair (bp) region in 14 human fetal globin genes in seven linked pairs reveal 31 nucleotide substitutions at positions where the fetal globin genes, G  y and A  y, usually differ. In each case, the newly substituted nucleotide is identical to the one found at the same position in the linked nonallelic gene. Most of these nucleotide substitutions are clearly the result of gene conversions, but 11 could be the result of either very short gene conversions or of point mutations. The unexpectedly frequent occurrence of these short gene conversions suggests that they may be the relics of some normal interaction between homologous but nonallelic DNA sequences, and we discuss the possibility that they result from interactions occurring between homologous sequences during the process of meiotic chromosome pairing.

G-band position effects on meiotic synapsis and crossing over.

Genetics ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 118 (2) ◽  
pp. 307-317
Author(s):  
T Ashley
Keyword(s):  
Complex Formation ◽  
Synaptonemal Complex ◽  
Chromosomal Rearrangement ◽  
Chromosomal Rearrangements ◽  
Crossing Over ◽  
Position Effects ◽  
Band Position ◽  
Synaptonemal Complex Formation ◽  
Meiotic Synapsis ◽  
Nonhomologous Synapsis

Abstract An examination of synaptic data from a series of X-autosome translocations and crossover data from an extensive series of autosome-autosome translocations and autosomal inversions in mice has lead to the development of a hypothesis which predicts synaptic and recombinational behavior of chromosomal aberrations during meiosis. This hypothesis predicts that in heterozygotes for chromosomal rearrangements that meiotically align G-light chromatin with G-light chromatin lack of homology will be recognized. If homologous synapsis cannot proceed, synaptonemal complex formation will cease and there will be no physical suppression of crossing over in such rearrangements. However, if a chromosomal rearrangement aligns G-light chromatin with G-dark chromatin at the time of synapsis, lack of homology will not be recognized and synaptonemal complex formation will proceed nonhomologously through the G-dark chromatin. Crossing over will be physically suppressed in this region and this suppression of crossing over will be confined to the chromosome in which the G-light chromatin is nonhomologously synapsed with G-dark chromatin. When G-light chromatin is once again aligned with G-light chromatin, lack of homology again will be recognized and either homologous synapsis will be reinitiated (as in an inversion loop), or will cease altogether (as in some translocations). Unlike the previously described "synaptic adjustment", this nonhomologous synapsis of G-light with G-dark chromatin appears to compete with homologous synapsis during early pachynema.

Meiotic pairing in wheat–rye addition and substitution lines

1984 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Orellana ◽  
M. C. Cermeño ◽  
J. R. Lacadena
Keyword(s):  
Chromosome Pairing ◽  
Chinese Spring ◽  
Constitutive Heterochromatin ◽  
Banding Technique ◽  
Addition Line ◽  
Meiotic Pairing ◽  
Addition Lines ◽  
Substitution Lines ◽  
Homologous Chromosomes ◽  
Complex Process

Chromosome pairing was examined in wheat–rye addition and substitution lines using the C-banding technique. It was found that both rye and wheat chromosomes affect each other's homologous pairing. The strongest diminution of wheat pairing (measured as bound arms per cell) was produced by chromosome 5R of rye (7.5 and 7.2% in 'Chinese Spring' – 'Imperial' and 'Holdfast' – 'King II' addition lines, respectively). The weakest diminution of wheat pairing was produced by chromosome 3R in the 'Chinese Spring' – 'Imperial' addition line (1.1%). The diminution of rye chromosome pairing produced by wheat chromosomes ranges from 6.9 to 48.4% ('Chinese Spring' – 'Imperial' and 'Holdfast' – 'King II' addition lines, respectively). When put into a wheat background, the rye chromosomes suffer a worse fate than the wheat chromosomes. For example, chromosome 6R reduces the wheat complement pairing in the 'Holdfast' – 'King II' addition line by 3.8% but its own pairing is reduced by 41.4%. The decrease in pairing of both wheat and rye homologous chromosomes in addition and substitution lines is a complex process in which factors such as genes controlling meiotic pairing, constitutive heterochromatin, and cryptic wheat–rye interactions can play important roles.

scholarly journals Wheat mutants permitting homoeologous meiotic chromosome pairing

1971 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 311-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. Wall ◽  
Ralph Riley ◽  
Victor Chapman
Keyword(s):  
Triticum Aestivum ◽  
Chromosome Pairing ◽  
Secale Cereale ◽  
Meiotic Chromosome ◽  
Meiotic Pairing ◽  
Homoeologous Pairing ◽  
Homozygous Condition ◽  
Meiotic Chromosome Pairing ◽  
Homoeologous Chromosomes

SUMMARYPlants of Triticum aestivum (2n = 6x = 42) ditelocentric 5BL were treated with EMS in order to produce mutations in the 5B system by which meiotic pairing between homoeologous chromosomes is normally prevented. To check for the occurrence of mutation T. aestivum ditelo-5BL plants were pollinated with rye (Secale cereale 2n = 14) and meiosis was examined in the resulting hybrids.Wheat-rye hybrids were scored for the presence of mutants when the wheat parents were either the EMS-treated wheat plants, or their selfed derivatives, or their progenies obtained after pollination with untreated euploid individuals.Mutants were detected by each of these procedures and mutant gametes were produced by the treated ditelocentric plants with frequencies between 1·5 and 2·5%, but there were differences between the mutants in the extent to which homoeologous pairing occurred in the derived wheat-rye hybrids. The differences may have resulted from the occurrence of mutation at different loci or to different extents at the same locus.Two mutants, Mutant 10/13 and Mutant 61, were fixed in the homozygous condition. Mutant 10/13 was made homozygous both in the 5BL ditelocentric and in the euploid conditions but these genotypes regularly formed 21 bivalents at meiosis, and there was no indication of homoeologous pairing although the mutant 10/13 gave rise to homoeologous pairing in wheat-rye hybrids.

The Effect of Spindle Inhibitors Applied before Meiosis on Meiotic Chromosome Pairing

1973 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. A. DOVER ◽  
R. RILEY
Keyword(s):  
Chromosome Pairing ◽  
Chloral Hydrate ◽  
Control Mechanism ◽  
Meiotic Chromosome ◽  
Chiasma Formation ◽  
Meiotic Pairing ◽  
Mitotic Spindles ◽  
Pollen Mother Cells ◽  
Meiotic Chromosome Pairing ◽  
Mother Cells

Injection of 0.5% colchicine into immature tillers of genotypes of Triticum aestivum, T. aestivum x Aegilops mutica and T. aestivum x Secale cereale hybrids induces asynapsis at first meiotic metaphase irrespective of the homologous or homoeologous nature of the potential pairing chromosomes. The induction of asynapsis occurs at a time during and immediately following the last premeiotic mitosis of pollen mother cells. No disruption of synapsis and chiasma formation occurs in anthers having pollen mother cells originally at leptotene or immediately prior to leptotene when cultured in White's medium plus colchicine. Tetraploid and octaploid pollen mother cells resulting from the disruption of premeiotic spindles by colchicine show pairing of chromosomes only in bivalents, in genotypes normally having a degree of multivalent pairing configurations. The induction of multipolar mitotic spindles with 0.01% colchicine results in the development of pollen mother cell mosaics with different numbers of chromosomes. Such cells show high levels of chromosome pairing, including multivalents, in some genotypes that normally have very little chromosome pairing. The injection of 0.5% chloral hydrate during the last premeiotic mitosis of the archesporium causes no disturbances of meiotic pairing. The results are discussed with reference to the hypothesis that the control mechanism of meiotic chromosome pairing involves centromeric microtubules of the spindle (not affected by chloral hydrate) that are responsible for the positional adjustment, during the last mitotic anaphase, of potential pairing partners.

Synaptonemal complex formation in male scorpions exhibiting achiasmate meiosis and structural heterozygosity

Genome ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 914-926 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine M. Shanahan ◽  
David L. Hayman
Keyword(s):  
Complex Formation ◽  
Synaptonemal Complex ◽  
Meiotic Chromosome ◽  
Male Meiosis ◽  
Late Prophase ◽  
Maintenance System ◽  
Structural Heterozygosity ◽  
Synaptonemal Complex Formation ◽  
And Inversion ◽  
Metaphase I

Synaptonemal complex (SC) formation was studied in testicular material from individuals of a number of species from two families of Australian scorpions; Buthidae and Scorpionidae. These scorpions exhibit unusual cytogenetic features including achiasmate male meiosis, interchange heterozygosity, and centromeric fusion–fission and inversion heterozygosity. The synaptic behaviour of chromosomes involved in these rearrangements was studied from zygotene to metaphase I, using both meiotic chromosome preparations and techniques for examination of the SCs. Multivalent associations present during the achiasmate meiosis of both buthid and scorpionid scorpions are retained from prophase to metaphase I, unlike those present in polyploid achiasmate Bombyx females. Further evidence suggests that synaptic adjustment does not occur generally in achiasmate scorpionid inversion heterozygotes. However, for some inversions, pairing is seen to become more heterosynaptic from late prophase to metaphase I and this may be related to the pairing maintenance system during achiasmate meiosis in these specialized organisms.Key words: synaptonemal complex, achiasmate meiosis, heterozygosity, interchange, inversion.

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