The three-dimensional arrangement of chromosomes at meiotic metaphase I in normal and interchange heterozygotes of Briza humilis

1990 ◽  
Vol 97 (3) ◽  
pp. 565-570
Author(s):  
JANET M. MOSS ◽  
BRIAN G. MURRAY

Pollen mother cells at metaphase I have been reconstructed from serial sections in normal and interchange heterozygotes of Briza humilis. The pollen mother cells have an irregular shape with a prominent projection from the tangential face into the anther loculus. The seven bivalents of the normal plant are usually arranged with one bivalent in a central position surrounded by a ring of the remaining six or as a ring of all seven bivalents. The central:peripheral distribution of quadrivalents is different in two different interchange plants; in a sector analysis, where cells are divided into four quarters relative to the tangential face of the pollen mother cell, the two plants also show differences in quadrivalent distribution, indicating that individual chromosomes occupy different positions in the cell. The relevance of these results to the positioning of quadrivalents in lateral squashes of meiotic metaphase I are discussed.

Genetics ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 145 (4) ◽  
pp. 1155-1160
Author(s):  
Adam J Lukaszewski

To determine which segments of a chromosome arm are responsible for the initiation of chiasmate pairing in meiosis, a series of novel isochromosomes was developed in hexaploid wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). These isochromosomes are deficient for different terminal segments in the two arms. It is proposed to call them “asymmetrical.” Meiotic metaphase I pairing of these asymmetrical isochromosomes was observed in plants with various doses of normal and deficient arms. The two arms of an asymmetrical isochromosome were bound by a chiasma in only two of the 1134 pollen mother cells analyzed. Pairing was between arms of identical length whenever such were available; otherwise, there was no pairing. However, two arms deficient for the same segment paired with a frequency similar to that of normal arms, indicating that the deficient arms retained normal capacity for pairing. Pairing of arms of different length was prevented not by the deficiency itself, but rather, by the heterozygosity for the deficiency. Whether two arms were connected via a centromere in an isochromosome or were present in two different chromosomes had no effect on pairing. This demonstrates that in the absence of homology in the distal regions of chromosome arms, even if relatively short, very long homologous segments may remain unrecognized in meiosis and will not be involved in chiasmate pairing.


1985 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-92
Author(s):  
J.S. Heslop-Harrison ◽  
M.D. Bennett

Complete reconstructions of all the bivalents were made from electron micrographs of serial sections through six pollen mother cells at metaphase I of meiosis in Triticum aestivum (hexaploid bread wheat). At least two of these metaphases contained interlocked pairs of bivalents. In one, two ring bivalents were interlocked, while in another a rod bivalent ran through the centre of a ring bivalent. Two other groups of bivalents were too closely appressed to allow separation into individual bivalents and may have contained interlocks. Meiosis in other anthers of the same plants examined by light microscopy was considered normal. The frequency of interlocking found was much higher than reported from light-microscope spreads. Not all interlocks in metaphase I cells need adversely affect meiosis, but knowledge of their regularity and form may facilitate understanding the processes of chromosome pairing.


Genome ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 140-147
Author(s):  
M. Wagenvoort

Meiosis was studied in two diploid (2n = 2x = 24) siblings of Solanum phureja Juz. et Buk. and in 11 disomic and 2 trisomic descendants. The diploid siblings carry the same heterozygous interchange and either one or two inversions. The frequency of quadrivalents at diakinesis/metaphase I in these clones was 0.56 and 0.62 per pollen mother cell. In two plants from the first inbred generation (I1) this frequency was about the same but in some other I1 plants and a full sib the frequency was substantially lower, varying from 0.00 to 0.16. Most quadrivalents, 78–83%, were rings. A variety of quadrivalent configurations at diakinesis and metaphase I was observed, giving rise to balanced and unbalanced gametes. The absence of ring quadrivalents in trisomic descendants of one of the siblings implied that tertiary trisomics or primaries being homozygous for the interchange were present in the I1 generation. Regular chromosome distribution (12–12) at anaphase I occurred in 46.5 and 73.2% of the pollen mother cells studied in the two original clones. Irregularities, such as 11–13 distribution, lagging chromosomes, and a bridge and fragment, were detected on average in 2.7, 3.3, and 32.5%, respectively, of the anaphase I cells analysed. In hybrids from crosses between 6 primary trisomics as females with the interchange heterozygote, the involvement in the interchange of chromosomes 3 and 12 was clearly demonstrated.Key words: Solanum phureja, interchange heterozygote, chromosome identification, interchange trisomic, meiosis.


Genome ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huw M. Thomas ◽  
Barry J. Thomas

A spreading technique for synaptonemal complexes (SCs) was applied to pollen mother cells of two aneuploid genotypes of autotriploid Lolium multiflorum (2n = 3x + 1 = 22). In the earliest nuclei analyzed the axial elements are in six groups of 3 and one group of 4. Most groups have formed multivalents with from one to five pairing partner exchanges, but there are also groups that have formed bivalents and univalents. Some axial elements have formed triple associations, in one case for the length of the trivalent. Unsynapsed axial elements remain aligned with their homologous SCs into pachytene, but this alignment is abolished as these axes pair heterologously among themselves until the entire axial element complement is synapsed. At metaphase I most chromosomes are associated as trivalents and quadrivalents.Key words: Lolium, triploid, pairing partner exchange, chiasma, multivalent.


Genome ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 738-741 ◽  
Author(s):  
B F Cheng ◽  
G Séguin-Swartz ◽  
D J Somers ◽  
G Rakow

The low glucosinolate Brassica juncea breeding line 1058 was derived from a BC1F3 plant of an interspecific cross between high glucosinolate Indian B. juncea (genome AABB, 2n = 36) line 60143 and B. rapa (genome AA, 2n = 20) canola strain CZY. Line 60143 had 2n = 36 chromosomes (18 bivalents at metaphase I) and strain CZY had 2n = 20 chromosomes (10 bivalents). Line 1058 was nullisomic, with 2n - 2 = 34 chromosomes, with 17 bivalents formed at metaphase I and an even chromosomal segregation of 17:17 at anaphase I. In F1 hybrid plants of the cross 1058 × CZY, 98.3% of the pollen mother cells had 10 bivalents and seven univalents. This is evidence that plants of line 1058 are nullisomic, missing one pair of B-genome chromosomes.Key words: low glucosinolate mustard, meiotic behaviour, cytogenetics.


Genome ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 170-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. E. Brandham

During meiosis, long and short arms of acrocentric homoeologues pair and cross over in the centromere region in 95 (66.9%) of 142 hybrids of differing parentage in the monocotyledon family Aloeaceae. A characteristic configuration, the L–S bridge, is produced at anaphase I with frequencies ranging from <1 to 48% of pollen mother cells and in up to three bivalents per pollen mother cell. Too frequent to be due to inversion hybridity, L–S crossing-over most probably results from straight, noninverted pairing between nonhomologous proximal segments of the long and short chromosome arms following centromere mismatching in the heteromorphic bivalents. It is suggested that there are several lengths of DNA in different regions of homoeologous chromosomes, but perhaps concentrated around the centromere, that are sufficiently similar to recognize each other, pair, and cross over when brought together in a heteromorphic bivalent with mismatching of centromeres.Key words: Aloeaceae, hybrid, meiosis, nonhomologous pairing, crossing-over.


1984 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 519-522 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick E. McGuire

Mean chromosome pairing of 5.14I + 1.28II (rod) + 3.86II (ring) + 1.47III + 0.11IV (open) + 0.11V was observed in pollen mother cells at metaphase I in the triploid hybrid Elytrigia scirpea (K. Presl) Holub, 2n = 4x = 28 × E. bessarabica (Savul. et Rayss) Dubrovik, 2n = 4x = 14. Mean chromosome pairing of 3.71I + 2.29II (rod) + 1.82II (ring) + 2.64III + 0.29IV (open) was observed in the triploid hybrid E. curvifolia (Lange) Holub, 2n = 4x = 28 × E. bessarabica. Mean chromosome pairing of 3.00I + 0.93II (rod) + 1.57II (ring) + 1.36III + 1.79IV (open) + 1.I4IV (closed) + 0.79V was observed in the tetraploid hybrid E. junceiformis Löve et Löve, 2n = 4x = 28 × E. curvifolia. The first hybrid provides the first evidence by genome analysis that E. bessarabica possesses a genome (designated Eb) which is closely related to the genomes of E. scirpea (ES and ESC) and hence to the E genome of E. elongata (Host) Nevski, 2n = 2x = 14. The second and third hybrids provide the first evidence that the two genomes of E. curvifolia (designated EC and ECU) are related to the Eb genome of E. bessarabica and thus to the E genome of E. elongata.Key words: Elytrigia, homoeology, Triticum, phylogeny, triploid, tetraploid.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Kenneth George Ryan

<p>Reliable techniques for the living cell culture and correlative light and electron microscopy (EM) of meiotic pollen mother cells (PMCs) of Iris spuria, Allium triquetrum and Tradescantia flumenensis are described in detail. Living PMCs were successfully cultured in a slide chamber on agar/sucrose medium. Cells were covered with an inert oil to prevent their dehydration, and some cells were cultured from metaphase I to tetrad cell formation over a 20 hour period. Other PMCs were fixed with glutaraldehyde and flat embedded using a modification of the agar sandwich technique of Mole-Bajer and Bajer (1968). This technique was developed to permit the preselection of PMCs at known meiotic stages, for subsequent EM examination. Serial thin sections were cut at known planes of section; and 3-D reconstructions of MT distribution, and MT counts from transverse sections were completed. It was also possible to examine sections of an Iris anaphase I PMC which had been previously studied in life. Anaphase I and II chromosome velocities were analysed in the three species. Mean velocities were approximately 0.5 mu m/min with some variation from cell to cell and between sister half-spindles. In Allium anaphase I there was also variation in chromosome velocity within the half-spindle; and this variation was found not to be related to chromosome position on the metaphase I plate. Spindle elongation was zero in Allium anaphase I and in Iris anaphase II, but was detectable in Allium anaphase II (40%) and in "Iris anaphase I (l5%). The extent of spindle elongation in Tradescantia could not be determined. The kinetochore region in the first meiotic division consisted of two closely appressed, but structurally (and functionally) distinct, sister kinetochores. At meiosis II, the two sister kinetochores were separate from each other and faced opposite poles. The kinetochore arrangement probably changes from side-by-side (meiosis I) to back-to-back (meiosis II) during chromosome recondensation at prophase II in these cells. Bundles of non-kinetochore microtubules (nkMTs) span the interzone between sister chromosome units at metaphase I and II and anaphase II. Bundles of kinetochore MTs (kMTs) do not increase in divergence at any stage of meiosis studied; there was little interaction between nkMTs and kMTs, and MT-MT cross bridges were rare. These observations are not consistent with models of chromosome movement based on MT sliding or zipping. No relationship was found between nkMT distribution and spindle elongation, and the several different nkMT distributions which have been reported for other cell types may be variations on a structural theme. Spindle endoplasmic reticulum (ER) in meiosis II was found to be derived largely from invaginations and evaginations of the nuclear envelope. Growth of existing spindle ER was proposed to account for the doubling in the amount of ER observed between interphase and prometaphase II. Randomly oriented elements of ER, in early prometaphase II spindles may become passively aligned along the interpolar axis and then actively transported polewards at later stages of prometaphase II and metaphase II. Suggestions for future research are offered.</p>


1984 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 506-510 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. S. R. L. Narasinga Rao ◽  
J. Sybenga

Robertsonian trivalents, trisomic trivalents, and tetrasomic ring quadrivalants showed linear or indifferent orientation frequencies at late metaphase I of 1/3. This fits a model assuming sequential centromere activation in the multivalent with random order of activation and sufficiently long interval to permit stable coorientation of any two early centromeres before the following centromere is activated. A late centromere trapped between two coorienting early ones is prevented from orientation. Reorientation in pearl millet, when it occurs, is late in these configurations. Chain quadrivalents have less linear but more indifferent orientations than the expected 1/6 and 1/3, respectively. Possible reasons for this are given. For rye the situation is very different: linear orientation of Robertsonian trivalents is practically absent, presumably owing to insufficiently long intervals between centromere activations, and to early reorientation. A reduction in interval length between centromere activations is assumed to accompany the stabilization of autotretraploids.Key words: pearl millet, trivalents, quadrivalents, centromere activation, chromosome orientation.


CYTOLOGIA ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 367-371
Author(s):  
P. China Pullaiah ◽  
P. S. R. L. Narasinga Rao ◽  
V. Padmaja

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document