Ultrastructure of meiotic pairing in B chromosomes of Crepis capillaris. I. One-B and two-B pollen mother cells

Abstract

Chromosome pairing of a small metacentric B chromosome in Crepis capillaris has been studied by synaptonemal complex surface spreading of pollen mother cells containing either one or two B chromosomes. The B-chromosome axis, on average, represents about 8.7% of the axis length of the standard A-chromosome set, which is less than the corresponding values for DNA content (10.6%) and mitotic chromosome volume (13.6%). Single B chromosomes commonly undergo fold-back pairing to give a symmetrical hairpin loop, which supports earlier suggestions that this B chromosome is an isochromosome. Two B chromosomes may show interarm pairing, exclusively, or interchromosome pairing, exclusively, or combinations of the two. Near the centromeres pairing occurs preferentially between arms of the same chromosome, but chromosome ends show random association. Some B chromosomes show anomalous pairing configurations, which may reflect further orders of reverse repeats within arms or, alternatively, nonhomologous pairing. The period of B-chromosome pairing is confined almost exclusively to zygotene, when the standard A chromosomes are pairing, but within this period their pairing is delayed relative to the A set. Individual B chromosomes at zygotene contain from one to three separate synaptonemal complex segments. These are widely distributed within the chromosomes, mainly in distal and interstitial regions; pairing is delayed around the centromere.Key words: B chromosomes, isochromosomes, synaptonemal complex.