Originally published as Genetics Published Articles Ahead of Print on December 6, 2006.

Genetics, Vol. 175, 487-503, February 2007, Copyright © 2007
doi:10.1534/genetics.106.062968

Homeologous Recombination Plays a Major Role in Chromosome Rearrangements That Occur During Meiosis of Brassica napus Haploids

* UMR INRA–Agrocampus Rennes, Amélioration des Plantes et Biotechnologies Végétales, 35653 Le Rheu, France, {dagger} INRA–Unité de Mathématique et Informatique Appliquées, Jouy-en-Josas, France, {ddagger} Unité de Recherches en Génomique Végétale, INRA, 91057 Evry Cedex, France, § Warwick HRI, Wellesbourne, Warwick CV35 9EF, England and ** INRA–Institut Jean Pierre Bourgin, Station de Génétique et Amélioration des Plantes, 78026 Versailles, France

1 Corresponding author: Station de Génétique et Amélioration des Plantes, INRA–Institut Jean Pierre Bourgin, Route de Saint-Cyr, 78026 Versailles Cedex, France. 
E-mail: ejenczewski{at}versailles.inra.fr

Chromosomal rearrangements can be triggered by recombination between distinct but related regions. Brassica napus (AACC; 2n = 38) is a recent allopolyploid species whose progenitor genomes are widely replicated. In this article, we analyze the extent to which chromosomal rearrangements originate from homeologous recombination during meiosis of haploid B. napus (n = 19) by genotyping progenies of haploid x euploid B. napus with molecular markers. Our study focuses on three pairs of homeologous regions selected for their differing levels of divergence (N1/N11, N3/N13, and N9/N18). We show that a high number of chromosomal rearrangements occur during meiosis of B. napus haploid and are transmitted by first division restitution (FDR)-like unreduced gametes to their progeny; half of the progeny of Darmor-bzh haploids display duplications and/or losses in the chromosomal regions being studied. We demonstrate that half of these rearrangements are due to recombination between regions of primary homeology, which represents a 10- to 100-fold increase compared to the frequency of homeologous recombination measured in euploid lines. Some of the other rearrangements certainly result from recombination between paralogous regions because we observed an average of one to two autosyndetic A–A and/or C–C bivalents at metaphase I of the B. napus haploid. These results are discussed in the context of genome evolution of B. napus.




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R. T. Gaeta, J. C. Pires, F. Iniguez-Luy, E. Leon, and T. C. Osborn
Genomic Changes in Resynthesized Brassica napus and Their Effect on Gene Expression and Phenotype
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