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Plant Cell, Vol. 11, 809-824, May 1999, Copyright © 1999, American Society of Plant Physiologists
Three-Dimensional Microscopy of the Rad51 Recombination Protein during Meiotic Prophase
Amie E. Franklina,
John McElverb,
Ivana Sunjevaricc,
Rodney Rothsteinc,
Ben Bowend, and
W. Zacheus Candea
a Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720
b Novartis Agribusiness Biotechnology Research Inc., 3054 Cornwallis Road, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709
c Department of Genetics and Development, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032-2704
d Lynx Therapeutics, Inc., Hayward, California 94545
Correspondence to:
Amie E. Franklin, franklin{at}candelab.berkeley.edu (E-mail), 510-643-6791 (fax)
An open question in meiosis is whether the Rad51 recombination protein functions solely in meiotic recombination or whether it is also involved in the chromosome homology search. To address this question, we have performed three-dimensional high-resolution immunofluorescence microscopy to visualize native Rad51 structures in maize male meiocytes. Maize has two closely related RAD51 genes that are expressed at low levels in differentiated tissues and at higher levels in mitotic and meiotic tissues. Cells and nuclei were specially fixed and embedded in polyacrylamide to maintain both native chromosome structure and the three dimensionality of the specimens. Analysis of Rad51 in maize meiocytes revealed that when chromosomes condense during leptotene, Rad51 is diffuse within the nucleus. Rad51 foci form on the chromosomes at the beginning of zygotene and rise to ~500 per nucleus by mid-zygotene when chromosomes are pairing and synapsing. During chromosome pairing, we consistently found two contiguous Rad51 foci on paired chromosomes. These paired foci may identify the sites where DNA sequence homology is being compared. During pachytene, the number of Rad51 foci drops to seven to 22 per nucleus. This higher number corresponds approximately to the number of chiasmata in maize meiosis. These observations are consistent with a role for Rad51 in the homology search phase of chromosome pairing in addition to its known role in meiotic recombination.
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