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Genetics and Molecular Biology |
Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas 79409-3131 USA
Received for publication November 1, 2001. Accepted for publication December 13, 2001.
| ABSTRACT |
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Key Words: bivalents chromosome-specific Compositae desynapsis genetics Haplopappus random chiasmata
| INTRODUCTION |
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Some of the cytogenetically more instructive studies of desynapsis have involved analyses of species with very small chromosome numbers in which individual chromosomes can be identified at various mitotic and meiotic stages. Two carefully analyzed examples with low chromosome numbers are in Hypochoeris radicata (n = 4; Parker, 1975
) and Crepis capillaris (n = 3; Tease and Jones, 1976
), both in the family Compositae. Haplopappus gracilis (n = 2) is the third species with such a desirable genome, and it is better suited than other taxa because of its lower chromosome number and unambiguous identification of each chromosome during meiosis (Jackson, 1959
). We have found a chromosome-specific desynaptic mutation in each linkage group of H. gracilis.
Our goals in this study were (1) to determine the inheritance pattern of the desynapsis genes for each linkage group, (2) to test chiasmata distribution for fits to models and equations developed for asynaptic mutations, and (3) to analyze the univalent patterns of movement to the two poles.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
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Cytological methods
Seedlings 2 d old were used for karyotype analysis. They were germinated as above, pretreated for about 2 h in 0.008 mol/L 8-hydroxyquinoline, and then fixed 24 h in a solution of 3 : 1 95% ethanol :propionic acid. Root tips were then excised and placed in 15% HCl for 1517 min, rinsed with fixative, and placed on a glass slide in a drop of FLP-orcein stain. A cover glass was added and tapped gently to separate the cells for examination before squashing. Meiotic material of microsporocytes was fixed as described. Anthers were placed in a drop of stain under a cover glass, and microsporocytes were separated gently by slight tapping with a pencil eraser to maintain the fixed chromosome positions. Those preparations of homozygous mutants used for pachytene stage analysis were squashed as flat as possible. Other cytological analyses of chiasma and univalent frequencies were at very late diakinesis or metaphase I. Chromosome distribution to the poles was scored at late anaphase I or early telophase I. Pollen grains were stained with Buffalo Black B in 70% propionic acid, and those with a uniformly stained cytoplasm were counted as fertile.
The A chromosome linkage group is the larger of the two with a near median centromere, and the nucleolar organizing region (NOR) chromosome B is smaller with a subterminal centromere (Fig. 1). We designate dsa and dsb, respectively, as the chromosome A and B desynaptic gene symbols. A superscript plus sign (+) refers to a normal (wild-type) allele.
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Homozygous desynaptic mutants with a maximum of two chiasmata have bivalents with one (II1) or two (II2) chiasmata or two univalents (2 Is). A method for testing chiasma types for a fit to a mutant, random chiasmata distribution model is by use of the binomial (Pc + Q)2. The probability (Pc) of a chiasma in a bivalent is obtained by dividing the observed number of chiasmata by the theoretical maximum of two per bivalent. 1 Pc = Q is lack of a chiasma, and N is cell sample size. So Pc2 x N = (II2), 2(Pc Q) x N = (II1), and Q2 x N = (2 Is). Methods for bivalents with more than two chiasmata are given elsewhere (Jackson, 1991
).
Chiasma frequency data for linkage group A with a maximum of two chiasmata per bivalent were used to test whether crossovers were distributed randomly among the desynaptic meiocytes. The B chromosome bivalents normally have a single chiasma in the long arm, and univalents do not occur. Thus the II number is the same as sample size for the normal genetic system. Univalents and II1 in the desynaptic genotype have no degrees of freedom for a chi-square test.
The movement of four univalents to the two poles, Pc and Q, at anaphase I was tested for a fit to a theoretical standard binomial as (Pc + Q)4 with equal probability of a univalent moving to either pole. For convenience, the univalents are designated as A, a, B, b, with homologues identified by the same letters.
Hybridizations
Heads used in crosses were covered with Kimwipes (Kimberly-Clark Corp., Neenah, Wisconsin, USA) laboratory paper prior to anthesis and then kept covered after pollination until stigmas withered. The species has a sporophytic self-incompatible mating system (Jackson, Skvarla, and Chissoe, 2000
), so sample sizes were large enough for a high probability of successful crosses. The desynaptic mutants were found segregating in a greenhouse population. Plants homozygous for desynaptic genes on chromosomes A and B were initially crossed inter se to preserve the mutant genotypes. They were then crossed to pollen compatible wild-type 8200 individuals to produce an F1 generation. F1s were then intercrossed to produce an F2 generation in which the proposed null hypothesis was an expected F2 ratio of 9 : 3 : 3 : 1.
| RESULTS |
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Univalents were clearly identifiable and well spaced at a stage corresponding to diakinesis (Fig. 3). Four univalents, when present, usually were aligned at the metaphase I plane in unsquashed cells as were cells with two univalents (Figs. 4, 5). Univalent chromosome B behavior was not always synchronized with A bivalents at early anaphase I. In some cells the univalent Bs were precocious in moving to opposite or to the same poles (Figs. 6, 7). Univalent Bs had precocious chromatid separation in several cells while the A dyads were at opposite poles at pro-metaphase II with chromatids held together in the centromere region (Fig. 8). Thus, chromosome Bs were at anaphase II and not synchronized with the A chromosomes as they normally are. Univalents that were not successful in their polar movements typically formed micronuclei at interkinesis and ultimately produced very small and empty microspores.
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Analysis of 167 meiocytes in a chromosome A desynaptic genotype gave an acceptable fit to a binomial distribution of chiasmata (P > 0.30; Table 4). Chiasmata distributions were analyzed in 746 additional meiocytes from nine plants with either normal or desynaptic A and B bivalents and one plant desynaptic for both A and B (Table 5). In eight desynaptic B plants analyzed, there was no significant correlation for an increase of chiasmata in A bivalents when there were univalents of chromosome B (R2 = 0.04).
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| DISCUSSION |
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Asynapsis can be differentiated from desynapsis by the fact that in the former chromosome pairing may vary among the chromosomes of genomes such that the same chromosomes may have complete pairing in some meiocytes and partial or no pairing in others. The term for this kind of chromosome behavior is homoeologous pairing (Huskins, 1932
) in contrast to normal homologous pairing in desynaptic genotypes. So far as known, asynaptic behavior affects the search for homologues during zygotene and pachytene, but some authors claim the search may commence as early as leptotene (Zickler and Kleckner, 1999
). One kind of asynapsis occurs in F1 hybrids heterozygous for pairing control (PC) mutations and is found most often in interspecific or intergeneric hybrids (Jackson, 1991
). The end results are variable chiasma and univalent frequencies such as occur in desynaptic mutants. The same binomial equations can be used to accurately predict chiasmata distribution classes in both kinds of mutations. These methods can be used also to detect deviations from random univalent movement to the poles at anaphase I, which is of interest genetically. For example, univalent distribution at anaphase I in triploid Allium triquetrum was not random in a high frequency collection as opposed to random distribution in low frequency classes (Balog, 1979
). A classic example of polarized, nonrandom univalent segregation at anaphase I was found in the sexually reproducing triploid Leucopogan juniperinus (Smith-White, 1948
).
We stated earlier that most desynaptic mutants described in the literature affect entire genomes (hologenomic) and are not chromosome-specific. However, if individual bivalents from whole-genome desynapsis can be identified, they can be tested for fits to binomial equations. An example of this is in the NOR chromosome 2 of tomato that was analyzed in a classic study by Soost (1951)
and later by Moens (1969)
. Soost (1951)
gave meiotic configurations and chiasmata frequencies for two of four known desynaptic genes on chromosome 2. We have calculated the expected numbers of diakinesis configurations for these two desynaptic mutants, and there is an acceptable fit to Soost's observed numbers (P > 0.75 and P > 0.50; Table 6). Both Haplopappus and tomato show that the same binomial equations can be used to accurately predict diakinesis or metaphase I configurations at the diploid level in desynaptic mutations representing diverse taxonomic groups.
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Parker (1975)
and Tease and Jones (1976)
reported other bivalents of complements with low frequencies of univalents in addition to chromosome-specific desynapsis in one bivalent. However, bivalent IV in Hypochoeris clearly shows chromosome-specific desynapsis due to a single recessive gene, and univalent numbers from this bivalent are correlated with a possible increase of chiasmata in the others so there may be a compensation mechanism. F2 data for bivalent A in Crepis showed that a single recessive gene is responsible for desynaptic behavior. However, neither mutant was tested for random chiasmata distribution among cells nor did the data sets include the different crossover classes for individual bivalents.
We have examined the data of Richardson (1935)
for a desynaptic strain-X of Crepis capillaris in which she gave mean chiasma frequencies for bivalents A, C, and D. This strain was completely homozygous, barring a new mutation, because it came from seeds off a diploid branch of a haploid. She also did not give data for bivalent chiasmata classes. However, from her data we calculated the expected 2 I frequencies in a sample of 66 nuclei at late diakinesis in plant 2683-4 from her Tables 1 and 5. Her observed 2 I numbers are followed by our expected values in parentheses: A = 14 (14.58), C = 27 (34.69), D = 20 (22.57). Although data for the bivalent chiasmata classes were not given, the expected 2 I numbers suggest that this particular plant had random chiasmata distribution among its bivalents. In analyses involving bivalents with different chiasma frequencies, each bivalent should be analyzed separately because cell frequencies alone cannot accurately describe the variation inherent among the different linkage groups. This information is necessary for determining whether chiasmata are distributed randomly.
The desynaptic genes in tomato are examples of hologenomic mutations that affect all bivalents (Jackson, 1985
). A chromosome-specific gene affects a single bivalent as in Haplopappus, Hypochoeris, and Crepis. But both genetic systems likely occur in all eukaryotes. It seems logical also that the chromosome-specific system arose earlier in evolution because the primitive eukaryotes likely had a single linkage system. A master gene then evolved to synchronize chiasma distribution behavior among multiple linkage groups.
| FOOTNOTES |
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2 Author for reprint requests (Tel: 806-742-2717, FAX: 806-742-2963; ray.c.jackson{at}ttu.edu
) ![]()
| LITERATURE CITED |
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Maguire M. P. A. M. Paredes R. W. Riess 1991 The desynaptic mutant of maize as a combined defect of synaptonemal and chiasma maintenance. Genome 34: 879-887[Medline]
Moens P. B. 1969 Genetic and cytological effects of three desynaptic genes in the tomato. Canadian Journal of Genetics and Cytology 11: 857-869[ISI]
Parker J. S. 1975 Chromosome-specific control of chiasma formation. Chromosoma (Berlin) 49: 391-406[ISI]
Richardson M. 1935 II. Failure of pairing in Crepis capillaris (L.) Wallr. Journal of Genetics 31: 119-143[ISI]
Rieger R. A. Michaelis M. M. Green 1991 Glossary of genetics. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Germany
Smith-White S. 1948 Polarized segregation in the pollen mother cells of a stable triploid. Heredity 2: 119-129[Medline]
Soost R. K. 1951 Comparative cytology and genetics of asynaptic mutants in Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. Genetics 36: 410-434
Tease C. G. H. Jones 1976 Chromosome-specific control of chiasma formation in Crepis capillaris. Chromosoma (Berlin.) 57: 33-39[CrossRef][ISI]
Zickler D. N. Kleckner 1999 Meiotic chromosomes: integrating structure and function. Annual Review of Genetics 33: 603-734[CrossRef][ISI][Medline]
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