Meiotic pairing and segregation of achiasmate sex chromosomes in eutherian mammals: the role of SYCP3 protein.

ABSTRACT: In most eutherian mammals, sex chromosomes synapse and recombine during male meiosis in a small region called pseudoautosomal region. However in some species sex chromosomes do not synapse, and how these chromosomes manage to ensure their proper segregation is under discussion. Here we present a study of the meiotic structure and behavior of sex chromosomes in one of these species, the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus). We have analyzed the location of synaptonemal complex (SC) proteins SYCP1 and SYCP3, as well as three proteins involved in the process of meiotic recombination (RAD51, MLH1, and gamma-H2AX). Our results show that although X and Y chromosomes are associated at pachytene and form a sex body, their axial elements (AEs) do not contact, and they never assemble a SC centra

SUBMITTER: de la Fuente R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2048527 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature