engleski

Understanding meiosis in plants: an integration of cytological and molecular approach

Meiosis is a complex multistep process that includes chromosome pairing, synaptonemal complex formation and crossing over, recombination and disjunction of homologues chromosomes and cytokinesis, A single round of DNA replication followed by two successive nuclear divisions leads to the chromosome number reduction, accurate chromosome transmission and genetic recombination. Although the process of meiosis in higher plants has been studied cytologically for over a century, and many meiotic mutants have been isolated and described, until recently the resources have not been available for an integration of cytological, genetic and molecular approaches to the analysis of plant meiosis. The situation has changed by the adoption of Arabidopsis thaliana as model plant system, very well amenable to such an integrated approach. The complete sequence of its genome, genes identification and characterization based on both forward and reverse genetic approach, publicly available collections of mutants, in combination with improved techniques of molecular cytogenetics and immunogenetics have greatly improved our understanding of meiosis and its control in plants. Particularly advantageous feature of meiosis in plants is that mutations affecting meiotic genes usually do not trigger a cell-cycle check point, so all stages of aberrant meiosis can be studied, in contrast to mammals, where functional analyses of meiotic genes are frequently hampered by the lethal consequences of their mutations. This presentation will focus on recent work that is contributing to a better understanding of the key meiotic events involved in meiotic recombination and DNA repair in Arabidopsis thaliana.

meiosis; Arabidopsis thaliana; recombination; mutants

nije evidentirano