Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol. 54, No. 380, pp. 39-46,
January 1, 2003
© 2003 Oxford University Press
The desynaptic (dy) and desynaptic1 (dsy1) mutations in maize (Zea mays L.) cause distinct telomere-misplacement phenotypes during meiotic prophase
Received 5 August 2002; Accepted 12 September 2002
Department of Biological Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-4370, USA
1 To whom correspondence should be addressed. Fax: +1 850 644 0481. E-mail: bass{at}bio.fsu.edu
During meiotic prophase, telomeres actively attach themselves to the nuclear envelope and cluster in an arrangement called the bouquet. The bouquet is unique to meiosis, highly conserved, and thought to facilitate homologous chromosome synapsis. Analy sis of three-dimensional fluorescence in situ hybridization (3-D FISH) image data has been employed to characterize the bouquet in fixed pollen mother cells of maize (Zea mays L.). In order to examine the function of the bouquet further, several meiotic mutants were screened for telomeric defects using 3-D FISH as an assay. Two mutants, desynaptic (dy) and desynaptic1 (dsy1), were found to exhibit novel telomere-misplacement phenotypes. In both cases, the telomere-associated mutant phenotypes occurred prior to what was previously reported as the earliest affected stage. Three alleles of the desynaptic1 mutation (dsy1-1, dsy1-9101, and dsy1-9307) resulted in a partial bouquet phenotype at the zygotene stage of meiotic prophase. By contrast, dy nuclei contained apparently normal bouquets, but then resulted in a premature intranuclear localization of telomeres at the pachytene stage, when telomeres normally disperse but remain attached to the nuclear envelope. The dsy1 mutation is known to impair the fidelity and progression of homologous synapsis, whereas the dy mutation is known to reduce recombination rates. If the telomere misplacements are primary defects of these mutants, then these data would be consistent with the hypothesis that meiotic telomeres have at least two separable functions, one involving proper homologous chromosome synapsis at the bouquet stage and another involving post-bouquet cross-over control.
Key words: Bouquet, chromosome, desynaptic, meiosis, nuclear envelope, nucleus, recombination, synapsis, telomere.
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  M. D. Yandeau-Nelson, B. J. Nikolau, and P. S. Schnable Effects of trans-acting Genetic Modifiers on Meiotic Recombination Across the a1-sh2 Interval of Maize Genetics, September 1, 2006; 174(1): 101 - 112. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 L. Harper, I. Golubovskaya, and W. Z. Cande A bouquet of chromosomes J. Cell Sci., August 15, 2004; 117(18): 4025 - 4032. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 B. Liebe, M. Alsheimer, C. Hoog, R. Benavente, and H. Scherthan Telomere Attachment, Meiotic Chromosome Condensation, Pairing, and Bouquet Stage Duration Are Modified in Spermatocytes Lacking Axial Elements Mol. Biol. Cell, February 1, 2004; 15(2): 827 - 837. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 K. K. Kato and R. G. Palmer Molecular Mapping of the Male-Sterile, Female-Sterile Mutant Gene (st8) in Soybean J. Hered., September 1, 2003; 94(5): 425 - 428. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 W. P. Pawlowski, I. N. Golubovskaya, and W. Z. Cande Altered Nuclear Distribution of Recombination Protein RAD51 in Maize Mutants Suggests the Involvement of RAD51 in Meiotic Homology Recognition PLANT CELL, August 1, 2003; 15(8): 1807 - 1816. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|