Crossover Distribution and High Interference for Both the X Chromosome and an Autosome During Oogenesis and Spermatogenesis in Caenorhabditis elegans

Corresponding author: Philip M. Meneely, Haverford College, Haverford, PA 19041., pmeneely{at}haverford.edu (E-mail)

Communicating editor: G. R. SMITH

Regulation of both the number and the location of crossovers during meiosis is important for normal chromosome segregation. We used sequence-tagged site polymorphisms to examine the distribution of all crossovers on the X chromosome during oogenesis and on one autosome during both oogenesis and spermatogenesis in Caenorhabditis elegans. The X chromosome has essentially one crossover during oogenesis, with only three possible double crossover exceptions among 220 recombinant X chromosomes. All three had one of the two crossovers in the same chromosomal interval, suggesting that crossovers in that interval do not cause interference. No other interval was associated with double crossovers. Very high interference was also found on an autosome during oogenesis, implying that each chromosome has only one crossover during oogenesis. During spermatogenesis, recombination on this autosome was reduced by 30% compared to oogenesis, but the relative distribution of the residual crossovers was only slightly different. In contrast to previous results with other autosomes, no double crossover chromosomes were observed. Despite an increased frequency of nonrecombinant chromosomes, segregation of a nonrecombinant autosome during spermatogenesis appears to occur normally. This indicates that an achiasmate segregation system helps to ensure faithful disjunction of autosomes during spermatogenesis.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				K. Wang, D. Tang, M. Wang, J. Lu, H. Yu, J. Liu, B. Qian, Z. Gong, X. Wang, J. Chen, et al. MER3 is required for normal meiotic crossover formation, but not for presynaptic alignment in rice J. Cell Sci., June 15, 2009; 122(12): 2055 - 2063. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				V. V. Subramanian and S. E. Bickel Heterochromatin-Mediated Association of Achiasmate Homologs Declines With Age When Cohesion Is Compromised Genetics, April 1, 2009; 181(4): 1207 - 1218. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. G. Y. Lim, R. R. W. Stine, and J. L. Yanowitz Domain-Specific Regulation of Recombination in Caenorhabditis elegans in Response to Temperature, Age and Sex Genetics, October 1, 2008; 180(2): 715 - 726. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. J. Tsai, D. G. Mets, M. R. Albrecht, P. Nix, A. Chan, and B. J. Meyer Meiotic crossover number and distribution are regulated by a dosage compensation protein that resembles a condensin subunit Genes & Dev., January 15, 2008; 22(2): 194 - 211. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. Hammarlund, M. W. Davis, H. Nguyen, D. Dayton, and E. M. Jorgensen Heterozygous Insertions Alter Crossover Distribution but Allow Crossover Interference in Caenorhabditis elegans Genetics, November 1, 2005; 171(3): 1047 - 1056. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. Nabeshima, A. M. Villeneuve, and K. J. Hillers Chromosome-Wide Regulation of Meiotic Crossover Formation in Caenorhabditis elegans Requires Properly Assembled Chromosome Axes Genetics, November 1, 2004; 168(3): 1275 - 1292. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				F. W. Stahl, H. M. Foss, L. S. Young, R. H. Borts, M. F. F. Abdullah, and G. P. Copenhaver Does Crossover Interference Count in Saccharomyces cerevisiae? Genetics, September 1, 2004; 168(1): 35 - 48. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]