Abstract
Much of meiosis research is focussed on Arabidopsis thaliana, largely due to the significant advantages it brings, having a small sequenced genome with comparatively little repetitive DNA, the ease of forward and reverse genetics, and a short life cycle. On the other hand, due the small genome size using Arabidopsis may be problematic for generating sufficient meiotic material for other types of analysis e.g., proteomics using prophase meiocytes and cytological analysis of the synaptonemal complex at the subcellular level. One solution is to use closely related species with larger genomes, in this case the Brassicas. This chapter contains methods for spreading of Brassica oleracea meiocytes for the analysis of the synaptonemal complex by silver staining and immunolocalization with gold-coupled antibodies using transmission electron microscopy.
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Acknowledgments
The Brassica work in our laboratory is supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). Technical support has been provided by Steve Price.
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Armstrong, S. (2013). Analysis of the Synaptonemal Complex in Brassica Using TEM. In: Pawlowski, W., Grelon, M., Armstrong, S. (eds) Plant Meiosis. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 990. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-333-6_16
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-333-6_16
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Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ
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