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The germ-line-restricted chromosome in the zebra finch: recombination in females and elimination in males

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Abstract

In the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata), there is a germ-line-restricted chromosome regularly present in males and females. A reexamination of male and female meiosis in the zebra finch showed that this element forms a euchromatic bivalent in oocytes, but it is always a single, heterochromatic element in spermatocytes. Immunostaining with anti-MLH1 showed that the bivalent in oocytes has two or three foci with a localized pattern, indicating the regular occurrence of recombination. In male meiosis, the single restricted chromosome forms an axis that contains the cohesin subunit SMC3, and the associated chromatin is densely packed until late pachytene. Electron microscopy of thin-sectioned seminiferous tubules shows that the restricted chromosome is eliminated in postmeiotic stages in the form of packed chromatin inside a micronucleus, visible in the cytoplasm of young spermatids. The selective condensation of the restricted chromosome during early meiotic prophase in males is interpreted as a strategy to avoid the triggering of asynaptic checkpoints, but this condensation is reversed prior to the final condensation that leads to its (ulterior) elimination. Recombination during female meiosis may prevent the genetic attrition of the restricted chromosome and, along with the elimination in male germ cells, ensures its regular transmission through females.

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Acknowledgements

The kind gifts of anti-SCP3 from P. Moens and CREST serum from W. Brinkley are gratefully acknowledged. The able technical help of C. Deparci is thanked. This work was supported by grants from the National Research Council (CONICET) and National Agency for Science and Technology. AJS and MIP are researchers from CONICET.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Investigaciones en Reproducción, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Paraguay 2155 Piso 10, C1121ABG, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    M. I. Pigozzi & A. J. Solari

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  1. M. I. Pigozzi
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  2. A. J. Solari
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Correspondence to M. I. Pigozzi.

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Communicated by P. Moens

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Pigozzi, M.I., Solari, A.J. The germ-line-restricted chromosome in the zebra finch: recombination in females and elimination in males. Chromosoma 114, 403–409 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00412-005-0025-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00412-005-0025-5

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