Following the Formation of Synaptonemal Complex Formation in Wheat and Barley by High-Resolution Microscopy.

Abstract

Wheat and barley have large genomes of 15 Gb and 5.1 Gb, respectively, which is much larger than the human genome (3.3 Gb). The release of their respective genomes has been a tremendous advance the understanding of the genome organization and the ability for deeper functional analysis in particular meiosis. Meiosis is the cell division required during sexual reproduction. One major event of meiosis is called recombination, or the formation of crossing over, a tight link between homologous chromosomes, ensuring gene exchange and faithful chromosome segregation. Recombination is a major driver of genetic diversity but in these large genome crops, the vast majority of these events is constrained at the end of their chromosomes. It is estimated that in barley, about 30% of the genes are located within the poor recombining centromeric regions, making important traits, such as resistance to pest and disease for example, difficult to access. Increasing recombination in these crops has the potential to speed up breeding program and requires a good understand of the meiotic mechanism. However, most research on recombination in plant has been carried in Arabidopsis thaliana which despite many of the advantages it brings for plant research, has a small genome and more spread out of recombination compare to barley or wheat. Advance in microscopy and cytological procedures have emerged in the last few years, allowing to follow meiotic events in these crops. This protocol provides the steps required for cytological preparation of barley and wheat pollen mother cells for light microscopy, highlighting some of the differences between the two cereals.

Plant phenotyping relevance

小麦・オオムギの減数分裂過程を可視化する細胞学的調製と高解像度顕微鏡法のプロトコルが中心であり、植物の生殖細胞状態を観察する測定手法に該当する。

Code and data availability

This is a methods protocol chapter (3D-SIM imaging of synaptonemal complex formation in wheat and barley). The supplied blocks describe materials, cytological preparation, immunostaining, and imaging steps using generic software (Fiji, Imaris), but contain no public phenotype/trait datasets, no deposited microscopy/3D/

No evidence-backed public reproduction asset is currently recorded.