Luzula elegans - a holocentric species with an inverted sequence of meiotic events?

• Applicant: Privatdozent Dr. Andreas Houben
• Subject Area: Cell Biology
• Term: from 2012 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 216463552

Meiosis in organisms with holocentric chromosomes illustrates that our views of meiotic chromosome arrangement and control of meiosis based on observations of monocentric chromosomes may not apply to all organisms. To proof whether in the holocentric genus Luzula the sequence of meiotic events is inverted (first division is equational whereas the second division is reductional), the project aims to investigate the sequence of meiotic events in L. elegans using advanced high-resolution microscopy. L. elegans genes encoding proteins involved in meiotic recombination, crossover formation and sister chromatid cohesion/separation will be identified and their sequence information will be used to generate antibodies for localisation of these proteins on meiotic chromosomes. In particular, the chromatin domain responsible for the end-to-end association of homologous (non-sister) chromatids during meiosis I - II transition and the type of alignment between homologous chromatids in meiosis II will be analysed. Chromosome-specific FISH marker will be used to trace the dynamics of individual chromosomes during meiosis.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1384: Mechanisms of Genome Haploidisation