Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Genetics logoLink to Genetics
. 1997 Jul;146(3):1101–1113. doi: 10.1093/genetics/146.3.1101

Region-Specific Cis- and Trans-Acting Factors Contribute to Genetic Variability in Meiotic Recombination in Maize

MCP Timmermans 1, O P Das 1, J M Bradeen 1, J Messing 1
PMCID: PMC1208038  PMID: 9215911

Abstract

Understanding the genetic basis for variability in recombination rates is important for general genetic studies and plant-breeding efforts. Earlier studies had suggested increased recombination frequencies in particular F(2) populations derived from the maize inbred A188. A detailed phenotypic and molecular analysis was undertaken to extend these observations and dissect the responsible factors. A heritable increase in recombination in the sh1-bz1 interval was observed in these populations. A factor causing an approximate twofold increase mapped to the A188 Sh1-Bz1 region, behaved as a dominant, cis-acting factor, affected recombination equally in male and female sporogenesis and did not reduce the wellstudied complete interference in the adjacent bz1-wx interval. This factor also did not increase recombination frequencies in the c1-sh1 and bz1-wx intervals, demonstrating independent control of recombination in adjacent intervals. Additional phenotypic analysis of recombination in the c1-sh1 and bz1-wx intervals and RFLP analysis of recombination along chromosomes 7 and 5 suggested that heritable factors controlling recombination in these intervals act largely independently and in trans. Our results show that recombination in these populations, and possibly maize in general, is controlled by both cis- and transacting factors that affect specific chromosomal regions.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (2.4 MB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Athma P., Peterson T. Ac induces homologous recombination at the maize P locus. Genetics. 1991 May;128(1):163–173. doi: 10.1093/genetics/128.1.163. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Burr B., Burr F. A. Recombinant inbreds for molecular mapping in maize: theoretical and practical considerations. Trends Genet. 1991 Feb;7(2):55–60. doi: 10.1016/0168-9525(91)90232-F. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Chang C. C., Kikudome G. Y. The interaction of knobs and B chromosomes of maize in determining the level of recombination. Genetics. 1974 May;77(1):45–54. doi: 10.1093/genetics/77.1.45. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Das O. P., Levi-Minzi S., Koury M., Benner M., Messing J. A somatic gene rearrangement contributing to genetic diversity in maize. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1990 Oct;87(20):7809–7813. doi: 10.1073/pnas.87.20.7809. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Das O. P., Messing J. Variegated phenotype and developmental methylation changes of a maize allele originating from epimutation. Genetics. 1994 Mar;136(3):1121–1141. doi: 10.1093/genetics/136.3.1121. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Das O. P., Ward K., Ray S., Messing J. Sequence variation between alleles reveals two types of copy correction at the 27-kDa zein locus of maize. Genomics. 1991 Dec;11(4):849–856. doi: 10.1016/0888-7543(91)90007-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. DeVeaux L. C., Smith G. R. Region-specific activators of meiotic recombination in Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Genes Dev. 1994 Jan;8(2):203–210. doi: 10.1101/gad.8.2.203. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Dooner H. K. Genetic Fine Structure of the BRONZE Locus in Maize. Genetics. 1986 Aug;113(4):1021–1036. doi: 10.1093/genetics/113.4.1021. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Emerson R A, Hutchison C B. The Relative Frequency of Crossing over in Microspore and in Megaspore Development in Maize. Genetics. 1921 Sep;6(5):417–432. doi: 10.1093/genetics/6.5.417. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Fradkin C M, Brink R A. Crossing over in Maize in the Presence of the Transposable Factors Activator and Modulator. Genetics. 1956 Nov;41(6):901–906. doi: 10.1093/genetics/41.6.901. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Hanson G. P. B-Chromosome-Stimulated Crossing over in Maize. Genetics. 1969 Nov;63(3):601–609. doi: 10.1093/genetics/63.3.601. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Kikudome G Y. Studies on the Phenomenon of Preferential Segregation in Maize. Genetics. 1959 Sep;44(5):815–831. doi: 10.1093/genetics/44.5.815. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Lichten M., Goldman A. S. Meiotic recombination hotspots. Annu Rev Genet. 1995;29:423–444. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ge.29.120195.002231. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Lowe B., Mathern J., Hake S. Active Mutator elements suppress the knotted phenotype and increase recombination at the Kn1-O tandem duplication. Genetics. 1992 Nov;132(3):813–822. doi: 10.1093/genetics/132.3.813. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Nel P. M. Crossing over and Diploid Egg Formation in the Elongate Mutant of Maize. Genetics. 1975 Mar;79(3):435–450. doi: 10.1093/genetics/79.3.435. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Patterson G. I., Kubo K. M., Shroyer T., Chandler V. L. Sequences required for paramutation of the maize b gene map to a region containing the promoter and upstream sequences. Genetics. 1995 Aug;140(4):1389–1406. doi: 10.1093/genetics/140.4.1389. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Phillips R. L. Recombination in ZEA MAYS L. II. Cytogenetic Studies of Recombination in Reciprocal Crosses. Genetics. 1969 Jan;61(1):117–127. doi: 10.1093/genetics/61.1.117. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Ralston E. J., English J. J., Dooner H. K. Sequence of three bronze alleles of maize and correlation with the genetic fine structure. Genetics. 1988 May;119(1):185–197. doi: 10.1093/genetics/119.1.185. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Robertson D. S. Crossing over and Chromosomal Segregation Involving the B Element of the a-B Translocation B-9b in Maize. Genetics. 1967 Mar;55(3):433–449. doi: 10.1093/genetics/55.3.433. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Robertson D. S. Different Frequency in the Recovery of Crossover Products from Male and Female Gametes of Plants Hypoploid for B-a Translocations in Maize. Genetics. 1984 May;107(1):117–130. doi: 10.1093/genetics/107.1.117. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Rose A. M., Baillie D. L. A mutation in Caenorhabditis elegans that increases recombination frequency more than threefold. Nature. 1979 Oct 18;281(5732):599–600. doi: 10.1038/281599a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Sandler L. Some observations on the study of the genetic control of meiosis in Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics. 1974 Sep;78(1):289–297. doi: 10.1093/genetics/78.1.289. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Stadler L. J. The Variability of Crossing over in Maize. Genetics. 1926 Jan;11(1):1–37. doi: 10.1093/genetics/11.1.1. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Wessler S. R., Baran G., Varagona M. The maize transposable element Ds is spliced from RNA. Science. 1987 Aug 21;237(4817):916–918. doi: 10.1126/science.3039661. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Williams C. G., Goodman M. M., Stuber C. W. Comparative recombination distances among Zea mays L. inbreds, wide crosses and interspecific hybrids. Genetics. 1995 Dec;141(4):1573–1581. doi: 10.1093/genetics/141.4.1573. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Xu X., Hsia A. P., Zhang L., Nikolau B. J., Schnable P. S. Meiotic recombination break points resolve at high rates at the 5' end of a maize coding sequence. Plant Cell. 1995 Dec;7(12):2151–2161. doi: 10.1105/tpc.7.12.2151. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Genetics are provided here courtesy of Oxford University Press

RESOURCES