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Centromere pairing precedes meiotic chromosome pairing in plants

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Abstract

Meiosis is a specialized eukaryotic cell division, in which diploid cells undergo a single round of DNA replication and two rounds of nuclear division to produce haploid gametes. In most eukaryotes, the core events of meiotic prophase I are chromosomal pairing, synapsis and recombination. To ensure accurate chromosomal segregation, homologs have to identify and align along each other at the onset of meiosis. Although much progress has been made in elucidating meiotic processes, information on the mechanisms underlying chromosome pairing is limited in contrast to the meiotic recombination and synapsis events. Recent research in many organisms indicated that centromere interactions during early meiotic prophase facilitate homologous chromosome pairing, and functional centromere is a prerequisite for centromere pairing such as in maize. Here, we summarize the recent achievements of chromosome pairing research on plants and other organisms, and outline centromere interactions, nuclear chromosome orientation, and meiotic cohesin, as main determinants of chromosome pairing in early meiotic prophase.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Ingo Schubert for comments and suggestions. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31600994, 31630049).

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  1. State Key Laboratory of Plant Cell and Chromosome Engineering, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Jing Zhang & Fangpu Han

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  1. Jing Zhang
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Correspondence to Fangpu Han.

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Zhang, J., Han, F. Centromere pairing precedes meiotic chromosome pairing in plants. Sci. China Life Sci. 60, 1197–1202 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-017-9109-y

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