Abstract
Heterologous segregation of the Y chromosome and secondary non-disjunction of the X chromosomes in female meiosis of Drosophila melanogaster was investigated in ten different crosses where different constellations of translocation/inversion or translocation/translocation systems of the large autosomes were present in the female parent. It appeared that the Y chromosome always segregates from the shortest of the possible heterologous pairing partners. This may be due to size-dependent mechanism of so-called ‘distributive disjunction’ or to the possibility that the shorter the chromosome element is, the more easily it moves in the nucleus of the oocyte. Secondary non-disjunction of the X chromosomes appeared to be lower the more possible autosomal pairing partners the Y chromosome had, suggesting that the autosomes effectively compete with the X chromosomes for pairing with the Y chromosome. An alternative explanation is that, due to interchromosomal effect on recombination, crossing over in the X chromosomes was different in different experiments.
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Portin, P. Partner choice in heterologous chromosome segregation of the Y chromosome in competitive situations in the oocyte of Drosophila melanogaster . Genetica 85, 139–145 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00120320
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00120320