Abstract
Species with holocentric chromosomes are often characterized by a rapid karyotype evolution. In contrast to species with monocentric chromosomes where acentric fragments are lost during cell division, breakage of holocentric chromosomes creates fragments with normal centromere activity. To decipher the mechanism that allows holocentric species an accelerated karyotype evolution via chromosome breakage, we analyzed the chromosome complements of irradiated Luzula elegans plants. The resulting chromosomal fragments and rearranged chromosomes revealed holocentromere-typical CENH3 and histone H2AThr120ph signals as well as the same mitotic mobility like unfragmented chromosomes. Newly synthesized telomeres at break points become detectable 3 weeks after irradiation. The presence of active telomerase suggests a telomerase-based mechanism of chromosome healing. A successful transmission of holocentric chromosome fragments across different generations was found for most offspring of irradiated plants. Hence, a combination of holokinetic centromere activity and the fast formation of new telomeres at break points enables holocentric species a rapid karyotype evolution involving chromosome fissions and rearrangements.
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Acknowledgments
We are grateful to Ingo Schubert and all members of the Chromosome Structure & Function group for their fruitful discussions and to Katrin Kumke for excellent technical assistance. This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SPP 1384, HO 1779/17-1) and the IPK (Gatersleben). The work performed at the Masaryk University was supported by the Czech Science Foundation (13-06943S), project CEITEC (CZ.1.05/1.1.00/02.0068) of the European Regional Development Fund and project CZ.1.07/2.3.00./20.0189 co-financed from European Social Fund and the State Budget of the Czech Republic.
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Supporting Information Movie S1
Rotation animation of L. elegans non-irradiated mitotic metaphase chromosomes after immunostaining with anti-H2AThr120ph and FISH using the Arabidopsis-type telomere probe (See also Fig. 2a). Note, the centromere spans over the entire chromosome, from telomere to telomere (MPG 6493 kb)
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Jankowska, M., Fuchs, J., Klocke, E. et al. Holokinetic centromeres and efficient telomere healing enable rapid karyotype evolution. Chromosoma 124, 519–528 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00412-015-0524-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00412-015-0524-y