Meiotic recombination dynamics in plants with repeat-based holocentromeres shed light on the primary drivers of crossover patterning.

ABSTRACT: Centromeres strongly affect (epi)genomic architecture and meiotic recombination dynamics, influencing the overall distribution and frequency of crossovers. Here we show how recombination is regulated and distributed in the holocentric plant Rhynchospora breviuscula, a species with diffused centromeres. Combining immunocytochemistry, chromatin analysis and high-throughput single-pollen sequencing, we discovered that crossover frequency is distally biased, in sharp contrast to the diffused distribution of hundreds of centromeric units and (epi)genomic features. Remarkably, we found that crossovers were abolished inside centromeric units but not in their proximity, indicating the absence of a canonical centromere effect. We further propose that telomere-led synapsis of homologues is the featu

SUBMITTER: Castellani M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10954556 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature