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Searching for mechanisms behind meiotic abnormalities in Crotalaria spectabilis Roth

Desvendando mecanismos relacionados a anormalidades meióticas em Crotalaria spectabilis Roth

ABSTRACT

The identification of epigenetic marks associated with problems in the meiotic process can enlighten the mechanisms underlying the irregularities and the impacts in the genetic constitution of gametes. Therefore, this study aimed to verify the relationship between the pattern of phosphorylation in serine 10 of histone H3 (H3S10ph), a (peri) centromeric epigenetic mark, with meiotic abnormalities in a wild population of Crotalaria spectabilis Roth. The main abnormalities observed were transfer of genetic material through cytoplasmatic connections, DNA elimination and abnormal spindle array. Different forms of elimination (chromatin fragmentation, ring formation, lagging chromosomes and micronuclei) were observed from the early phases until tetrad formation. The eliminated chromatin was either positive or negative for the immunosignal of H3S10ph, so it may be occurring elimination of acentric fragments, as well as of chromosomes with active or inactive centromeres. Therefore, dysfunctional centromere is not the only candidate cause for elimination. The transfer of genetic material and the abnormal spindle arrays are evidence that this population can produce aneuploid gametes and 2n pollen grains.

Index terms:
Leguminosae; cytomixis; abnormal meiotic spindle; unreduced pollen grain; chromosome elimination

RESUMO

A identificação de marcas epigenéticas associadas a problemas no processo meiótico pode esclarecer os mecanismos subjacentes às irregularidades e aos impactos na constituição genética dos gametas. Portanto, este estudo teve como objetivo verificar a relação entre o padrão de fosforilação na serina 10 da histona H3 (H3S10ph), uma marca epigenética (peri)centromérica, com anormalidades meióticas em uma população silvestre de Crotalaria spectabilis Roth. As principais anormalidades observadas foram transferência de material genético por meio de conexões citoplasmáticas, eliminação de DNA e arranjo anormal do fuso. Diferentes formas de eliminação (fragmentação da cromatina, formação de anéis, cromossomos atrasados ​​e micronúcleos) foram observadas desde as fases iniciais até a formação de tétrades. A cromatina eliminada foi positiva ou negativa para o imuno sinal da H3S10ph, portanto pode estar ocorrendo eliminação de fragmentos acêntricos, bem como de cromossomos com centrômeros ativos ou inativos. Portanto, centrômero disfuncional não é a única causa candidata para eliminação. A transferência de material genético e os arranjos anormais de fusos são evidências de que essa população pode produzir gametas aneuploides e grãos de pólen 2n.

Termos para indexação:
Leguminosae; citomixia; fuso meiótico anormal; grão de pólen não reduzido; eliminação cromossômica

INTRODUCTION

Crotalaria L. is one of the largest genus of the subfamily Papilionoideae (Leguminosae) with at least 700 species (Rockinger et al., 2017ROCKINGER, A.; FLORES, A. S.; RENNER, S. S. Clock-dated phylogeny for 48% of the 700 species ofCrotalaria(Fabaceae-Papilionoideae) resolves sections worldwide and implies conserved flower and leaf traits throughout its pantropical range. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 17:61, 2017. ; World Checklist of Vascular Plants - WCVP, 2022WORLD CHECKLIST OF VASCULAR PLANTS - WCVP. Version 2.0. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet. 2022. Available in: <Available in: http://wcvp.science.kew.org/ >. Access in: September 08, 2022.
http://wcvp.science.kew.org/...
). These species, mainly herbs and shrubs, are distributed throughout tropic and subtropical regions (Polhill, 1982POLHILL, R. M. Crotalaria in Africa and Madagascar. Rotterdam: Royal Botanic Gardens, 1982. 396p.), being found in forage areas and along roadsides. In Brazil, there are 42 Crotalaria species, including 31 natives and 11 introduced (Flores; Tozzi 2018FLORES, A. S.; TOZZI, A. M. G. A synopsis of the genus Crotalaria (Leguminosae) in Brazil. Phytotaxa, 346(1):31-58, 2018.). Among these, two species from India stand out, Crotalaria juncea L. and Crotalaria spectabilis Roth (Polhill, 1982POLHILL, R. M. Crotalaria in Africa and Madagascar. Rotterdam: Royal Botanic Gardens, 1982. 396p.). These species show economic value since they can be used for green fertilization in agriculture (Leal et al., 2005LEAL, A. J. F. et al. Viabilidade econômica de culturas e adubos verdes antecedendo o cultivo do milho em sistema de plantio direto em solo de cerrado. Revista Brasileira de Milho e Sorgo, 4(3):298-307, 2005.), for soil coverage and prevention of erosion (Choi et al., 2008CHOI, B. et al. Role of belowground parts of green manure legumes, Crotalaria spectabilis and Sesbania rostrata, in N uptake by the succeeding tendergreen mustard plant. Plant Production Science, 11(1):116-123, 2008.), and for the control of nematodes (Nascimento et al., 2020NASCIMENTO, D. D. et al. Crotalaria and millet as alternative controls of root-knot nematodes infecting okra. Bioscience Journal, 36(3):713-719, 2020.). All these characteristics have led to the interest in the development of new varieties to better exploit the agriculture potential of these species (Rovaris et al., 2021ROVARIS, S. R. S. IAC 201CS and IAC 201CO: Crotalaria cultivars with high fresh matter yield and seed production. Crop Breeding and Applied Biotechnology, 21(2):e36292129, 2021.; Muli et al., 2021MULI, J. K. et al. Phenomic characterization of Crotalaria germplasm for crop improvement. CABI Agriculture and Bioscience, 2:10, 2021.).

A faithful meiosis process is important for the success in plant breeding, since a regular meiosis is essential for the generation of viable gametes used in the hybrids production and seeds formation. Abnormalities in meiosis, such as univalent and multivalent in diakineses and bridges with and without fragments in anaphase, were described for some species of Crotalaria (Verma; Raina 1980VERMA, R. C.; RAINA, S. N. Cytogenetics of Crotalaria. II. Males meiosis in 8 species of Crotalaria. Cytologia, 45:297-306, 1980.; Almada et al., 2006ALMADA, R. D.; DAVIÑA, J. R.; SEIJO, G. Karyotype analysis and chromosome evolution in southernmost South American species of Crotalaria (Leguminosae). Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 150(3):329-341, 2006.). In C. spectabilis, irregular chromosome pairing and segregation, micronuclei in telophase II and low pollen grain viability were described (Ferreira et al., 2009FERREIRA, K. et al. Abnormal meiotic behavior in three species of Crotalaria. Pesquisa Agropecuária Brasileira, 44(12):1641-1646, 2009.). The authors consider that these irregularities may be a consequence of a pericentric inversion in chromosome I described by Mondin and Aguiar-Perecin (2011MONDIN, M.; AGUIAR-PERECIN, M. L. R. Heterochromatin patterns and ribosomal DNA loci distribution in diploid and polyploidy Crotalaria species (Leguminosae, Papilionoideae), and inferences on karyotype evolution. Genome, 54(9):718-726, 2011.). However, in addition to chromosomal rearrangements, the mis-segregation of chromosomes can also be related to non-functional centromeres (Sanei et al., 2011SANEI, M. et al. Loss of centromeric histone H3 (CENH3) from centromeres precedes uniparental chromosome elimination in interspecific barley hybrids. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , 108(33):498-505, 2011.; Barra; Fachinetti, 2018BARRA, V.; FACHINETTI, D. The dark side of centromeres: types, causes and consequences of structural abnormalities implicating centromeric DNA. Nature Communications, 9:4340, 2018.; Dumont et al., 2020DUMONT, M. et al. Human chromosome-specific aneuploidy is influenced by DNA-dependent centromeric features. EMBO Journal, 39(2):e102924, 2020.).

The immunolocalization of the centromeric histone H3 (CENH3 or CENPA) is traditionally used to study the centromere function and chromosome segregation. Besides, centromeric activity can also be tracked by others epigenetic marks including the phosphorylation in serine 10 of histone H3 (H3S10ph) (Houben; Demidov; Karimi-Ashtiyani, 2013HOUBEN, A.; DEMIDOV, D.; KARIMI-ASHTIYANI, R. Epigenetic control of cell division. In: GRAFI, G.; OHAD N. (eds.). Epigenetic Memory and control in plants, Signaling and Communication in Plants . Berlin: Springer, 2013. 20p.). The immunolocalization of this mark, in different species, showed its association with chromatid cohesion (Kaszas; Cande, 2000KASZAS, E.; CANDE, W. Z. Phosphorylation of histone H3 is correlated with changes in the maintenance of sister chromatid cohesion during meiosis in maize, rather than the condensation of the chromatin. Journal of Cell Science, 113(18):3217-3226, 2000.; Brasileiro-Vidal et al., 2005BRASILEIRO-VIDAL, A. C. et al. Mitotic instability in wheat x Thinopyrum ponticum derivatives revealed by chromosome counting, nuclear DNA content and histone H3 phosphorylation pattern. Plant Cell, 24:172-178, 2005.; Feitoza; Guerra 2011FEITOZA, L.; GUERRA, M. The centromeric heterochromatin of Costus spiralis: Poorly methylated and transiently acetylated during meiosis. Cytogenetic and Genome Research, 166:135-160, 2011b.a; Paula et al., 2013PAULA, C. M. P. et al. Distribution pattern of Histone H3 phosphorylation at serine 10 during mitosis and meiosis in Brachiaria species. Journal of Genetics, 92:259-266, 2013.) and functional centromere (Houben et al., 1999HOUBEN, A. et al. The cell cycle dependent phosphorylation of histone H3 is correlated with the condensation of plant mitotic chromosomes. The Plant Journal, 18(6):675-679, 1999.; Han; Lamb; Birchler, 2006HAN, F.; LAMB, J. C.; BIRCHLER, J. A. High frequency of centromere inactivation resulting in stable dicentric chromosomes of maize. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 103(9):3238-3243, 2006.; Fu et al., 2012FU, S. et al. Dicentric chromosome formation and epigenetics of centromere formation in plants. Journal of Genetics and Genomics, 39(3):125-130, 2012.; Houben; Demidov; Karimi-Ashtiyani, 2013HOUBEN, A.; DEMIDOV, D.; KARIMI-ASHTIYANI, R. Epigenetic control of cell division. In: GRAFI, G.; OHAD N. (eds.). Epigenetic Memory and control in plants, Signaling and Communication in Plants . Berlin: Springer, 2013. 20p.). It was demonstrated that phosphorylation in serine 10 of histone H3 is crucial for centromere/kinetochore structure and for the mechanical stability of centromeres during chromosome movement (Houben et al., 2007HOUBEN, A. et al. Phosphorylation of histone H3 in plants - A dynamic affair. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Gene Structure and Expression, 1769(5-6):308-315, 2007.; Feitoza; Guerra 2011aFEITOZA, L.; GUERRA, M. Different types of plant chromatin associated with modified histones H3 and H4 and methylated DNA. Genetica, 139:305-314, 2011a., bFEITOZA, L.; GUERRA, M. The centromeric heterochromatin of Costus spiralis: Poorly methylated and transiently acetylated during meiosis. Cytogenetic and Genome Research, 166:135-160, 2011b.). In this way, this epigenetic mark can enlighten the mechanisms underlying the meiotic irregularities and the impacts in the genetic constitution of the gametes.

Therefore, this study aimed to verify the relationship between the (peri)centromeric epigenetic mark revealed by H3S10ph with meiotic abnormalities in a wild population of Crotalaria spectabilis Roth.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Anthers were collected from a wild population of Crotalaria spectabilis Roth located in Lavras (Minas Gerais, Brazil) and fixed for 40 min in 4% paraformaldehyde solution in PBS buffer (Phosphate Buffer Saline), at room temperature. After washes in PBS, the anthers were digested with an enzymatic mixture (4% pectinase; 2% cellulase; 5% cytohelicase) for 6 h and 30 min, followed by PBS washing. Slides were prepared by squash technique in PBS + 1% Triton X-100.

Protocol for immunolocalization of H3S10ph was adapted following Manzanero et al. (2000MANZANERO, S. et al. The chromosomal distribution of phosphorylated histone H3 differs between plants and animals at meiosis. Chromosoma, 109:308-317, 2000.). Preparations were covered with 50 µL of blocking solution (3% BSA and 0.1% Triton X-100 in PBS buffer) for 20 min, at room temperature. Blocking solution was replaced by 25 µL of solution of H3S10ph antibody (Rabbit polyclonal IgG, Sta Cruz Biotechnology, USA) diluted (1:100) in blocking solution. Slides were incubated for 24 h, at 4 ºC. After washing with PBS, preparations were incubated with 25 µL of solution containing secondary antibody conjugated with FITC (Goat anti-rabbit IgG, Santa Cruz Biotechnology, USA) diluted (1:100) in blocking solution, for 2 h, at 37 °C, in dark humid chamber. After washing with PBS buffer, slides were mounted in Vectashield H-1000 containing DAPI (4’,6-diamidino-2-fenilindol).

Slides were analyzed under an epifluorescence microscope (Nikon eclipse E400) using excitation/emission filters for DAPI (358/461) and for FITC (495/515). Images were recorded using software NIS Elements BR and processed in Adobe Photoshop CS3. Frequency of abnormalities per meiotic phase were calculated from a sample of 775 cells. The meiotic index (normal tetrads/total tetrads) was estimated according to Love (1951LOVE, R. M. Varietal differences in meiotic chromosome behavior of Brazilian wheats. Agronomy Journal, 43(2):2-6, 1951.). Non-reduced gametes frequency was estimated by the formula 2n gametes = (2D + Tr) / (2D + 3Tr + 4T), where D=dyads; Tr=triads and T=tetrads, according to Yan et al. (1997YAN, G. et al. Numerically unreduced (2n) gametes and sexual polyploidization in Actinidia. Euphytica , 96:267-272, 1997.).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Several types of meiosis abnormalities were observed in 29.63% of the meiocytes (Table 1). This frequency is higher than that reported for Crotalaria spectabilis Roth by Almada et al. (2006ALMADA, R. D.; DAVIÑA, J. R.; SEIJO, G. Karyotype analysis and chromosome evolution in southernmost South American species of Crotalaria (Leguminosae). Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 150(3):329-341, 2006.) and by Ferreira et al. (2009FERREIRA, K. et al. Abnormal meiotic behavior in three species of Crotalaria. Pesquisa Agropecuária Brasileira, 44(12):1641-1646, 2009.). In the former, meiosis was considered regular, with low frequency of lagging chromosomes in anaphase I and II. Ferreira et al. (2009)FERREIRA, K. et al. Abnormal meiotic behavior in three species of Crotalaria. Pesquisa Agropecuária Brasileira, 44(12):1641-1646, 2009. reported about 12% of abnormalities, with the predominance of multivalents configurations, and other abnormalities in a lower frequency, such as chromosome stickiness, lagging chromosomes, micronuclei and irregular spindle.

Table 1:
Frequency (%) of meiotic abnormalities in a total of 775 meiocytes of Crotalaria spectabilis. Number in brackets means number of abnormal cells.

Meiotic index (MeI) was around 85%, similar to the 88.18% reported by Ferreira et al. (2009FERREIRA, K. et al. Abnormal meiotic behavior in three species of Crotalaria. Pesquisa Agropecuária Brasileira, 44(12):1641-1646, 2009.). According to Love (1951LOVE, R. M. Varietal differences in meiotic chromosome behavior of Brazilian wheats. Agronomy Journal, 43(2):2-6, 1951.), wheat plants with MeI higher than 90% can be considered cytologically stable for breeding purposes. Considering that the population studied here never went through any kind of artificial selection, this value can be taken as promising for use of these plants in crosses.

Cytomixis was identified in leptotene and zygotene (Figure 1A, Table 1). Cytomixis is a phenomenon that involves the migration of nuclei fragments or whole nuclei between cells through intercellular channels (cytomictic channels), mainly in plant male meiosis (Mursalimov; Deineko, 2018MURSALIMOV, S.; DEINEKO, E. Cytomixis in plants: Facts and doubts. Protoplasma, 255:719-731, 2018.). Due to this transference of genetic material to the gametes, this phenomenon has a potential evolutionary significance. Indeed, cytomixis has been reported in different plant species (Páez et al., 2021PÁEZ, L. A. de. et al. Cytomixis in angiosperms from northwestern Argentina. Botany Letters, 168(4):536-545, 2021.), including in Crotalaria (Ferreira et al., 2009FERREIRA, K. et al. Abnormal meiotic behavior in three species of Crotalaria. Pesquisa Agropecuária Brasileira, 44(12):1641-1646, 2009.), with impacts in the fertility of the pollen, production of non-reduced gametes or adjustment of unbalanced genomes (Lattoo et al., 2006LATTOO, S. et al. Cytomixis impairs meiosis and influences reproductive success in Chlorophytum comosum (Thunb) Jacq.: An additional strategy and possible implications. Journal of Biosciences, 31:629-637, 2006.; Singhal; Kumar 2008SINGHAL, V. K.; KUMAR, P. Impact of cytomixis on meiosis, pollen viability and pollen size in wild populations of himalayan poppy (Meconopsis aculeata Royle). Journal of Biosciences , 33:371-380, 2008.; Mursalimov; Sidorchuk; Deineko, 2013MURSALIMOV, S. R.; SIDORCHUK, Y. V.; DEINEKO, E. V. New insights into cytomixis: Specific cellular features and prevalence in higher plants. Planta, 238:415-423, 2013.). However, despite its importance, the causes and consequences of cytomixis are still unclear, mainly because the difficulties to develop a robust methodology to directly track this phenomenon (Mursalimov; Deineko, 2018MURSALIMOV, S.; DEINEKO, E. Cytomixis in plants: Facts and doubts. Protoplasma, 255:719-731, 2018.).

Figure 1:
Abnormalities in meiosis of Crotalaria spectabilis. Blue indicates DNA and green indicates presence of phosphorylated H3S10. (A) Cytomixis in early prophase I (arrow). (B) Fragmented chromatin/micronuclei in early prophase I (arrow). (C) Fragmented chromatin/nuclei (arrow) and ring chromosome in early prophase I (highlighted). (D) Elimination of chromosome fragments in telophase I. (E) Tetrad with microcyte (arrow). (F) Fragmented chromatin/micronuclei with (white arrow) and without (red arrow) immunosignal. Bar = 5μm.

Here, we observed that the chromatin fibers shared by different meiocytes was either positive or negative for the immunosignal of phosphorylated H3S10. Therefore, transfer of chromosomes/fragments with active and inactive centromeres may be occurring (Figure 1A). In tobacco male meiocytes, it was also observed that in the shared chromatin epigenetic marks like phosphorylation in serine 10 and 28, threonine 11 of histone H3 and in threonine 121 of histone H2Adoes not differ from the chromatin in intact microsporocytes (Mursalimov et al., 2015MURSALIMOV, S. et al. Cytomixis doesn’t induce obvious changes in chromatin modifications and programmed cell death in tobacco male meiocytes. Frontiers in Plant Science, 6:846, 2015.). This demonstrates that cytomixis does not affect chromatin epigenetic marks (Mursalimov et al., 2015).

Fragmentation of chromatin/micronuclei (Figure 1B) and the presence of ring chromosomes in the earlier phases (Table 1, Figure 1C) can be taken as evidences for elimination of genetic material in the beginning of meiotic process in C. spectabilis. Most of these fragments and rings never showed phosphorylation of H3S10, indicating elimination of acentric fragments or chromosomes with inactive centromere, which can result in the formation of microcytes observed in final meiosis phases (Figure 1D-E).

The presence of ring chromosomes in the pachytene can be linked to chromosome break in the telomeric region (Sybenga, 1992SYBENGA, J. Cytogenetics in plant breeding. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 1992. 469p. ) and rearrangements such as centric fission (Perry; Slater; Choo, 2004PERRY, J.; SLATER, H. R.; CHOO, K. H. A. Centric fission: Simple and complex mechanisms. Chromosome Research, 12:627-640, 2004.) or intrachromosomal translocations (Lysak; Schubert, 2013LYSAK, M. A.; SCHUBERT, I. Mechanisms of chromosome rearrangements. In: GREILHUBER, J.; DOLEZEL, J.; WENDEL, J. (eds). Plant genome diversity. Vienna: Springer, v. 2, p.137-147, 2013.). Centric fission can be a mechanism behind the formation of ring chromosomes when it is followed by a fusion end to end between centromere and telomere or by an illegitimate recombination between these regions (Perry; Slater; Choo, 2004PERRY, J.; SLATER, H. R.; CHOO, K. H. A. Centric fission: Simple and complex mechanisms. Chromosome Research, 12:627-640, 2004.). In the reciprocal intrachromosomal translocations, a brake in both arms produce both ring chromosome and acentric fragment (Lysak; Schubert, 2013). The ring chromosome, mainly the tiny ones, can be stably inherited for some cycles (Murata et al., 2008MURATA, M. et al. Functional analysis of the Arabidopsis centromere by T-DNA insertion-induced centromere breakage. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , 105(21):7511-7516, 2008.), but both products are unstable and eventually lost. In our results, the absence of phosphorylated H3S10 in the rings suggests that they are either acentric fragments or with inactive centromeres. The micronuclei were either positive or negative for phosphorylated H3S10 (Figure 1F), indicating that may be occurring loss of acentric fragments and whole chromosomes with active or inactive centromere. Therefore, centromeric inactivity is a candidate mechanism underlying DNA elimination but not the only one in this population of C. spectabilis.

Abnormalities in the orientation of the spindle fibers during meiosis were also observed, including parallel spindles (Figure 2A), and tripolar segregation (Figure 2B) which originate triads (Figure 2C, Table 1). Both types of spindle mis-orientation can generate non-reduced gametes (2n) (Pagliarini, 2000PAGLIARINI, M. S. Meiotic behavior of economically important plant species: The relationship between fertility and male sterility. Genetics and Molecular Biology, 23(4):997-1002, 2000.; Blasio et al., 2022BLASIO, F. et al. Genomic and meiotic changes accompanying polyploidization. Plants, 11(1):125, 2022. ). The production of unreduced gametes through these mechanisms has already been reported in Solanum L. (Andreuzza; Siddiqi, 2008ANDREUZZA, S.; SIDDIQI, I. Spindle positioning, meiotic nonreduction, and polyploidy in plants. PLOS Genetics, 4(11):e1000272, 2008.; Tomé et al., 2009TOMÉ, L. G. O. Pólen 2n e mecanismos meióticos de formação em Solanum commersonii ssp. Ciência e Agrotecnologia, 33(2):473-477, 2009.), Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh (D’Erfurth et al., 2008D’ERFURTH, I. et al. Mutations in ATPS1 (Arabidopsis thaliana Parallel Spindle 1) lead to the production of diploid pollen grains. PLOS Genetics , 4:e1000274, 2008.), Medicago L. (Barcaccia et al., 1995BARCACCIA, G. et al. Cytological, morphological, and molecular analyses of controlled progênies from meiotic mutants of alfafa producing unreduced gametes. Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 91:1008-1015, 1995.) and Saccharum L. (Bhat; Gill, 1985BHAT, S. R.; GILL, S. S. The implications of 2n egg gametes in nobilization and breeding of sugarcane. Euphytica, 34:377-384, 1985.). In some species, these spindle abnormalities are controlled by specific genes, like Atps1 in Arabidopsis thaliana (D’Erfurth et al., 2008D’ERFURTH, I. et al. Mutations in ATPS1 (Arabidopsis thaliana Parallel Spindle 1) lead to the production of diploid pollen grains. PLOS Genetics , 4:e1000274, 2008.), ps and pc in Solanum phureja Juz. & Bukasov (Mok; Peloquin, 1975bMOK, D. W. S.; PELOQUIN, S. J. The inheritance of three mechanisms of diplandroid (2n pollen) formation in diploid potatoes. Heredity, 35:295-302, 1975b., aMOK, D. W. S.; PELOQUIN, S. J. Three mechanisms of 2n pollen formation in diploid potatoes. Canadian Journal of Genetics and Cytology, 17(2):217-225, 1975a.; Peloquin; Boiteux; Carputo, 1999PELOQUIN, S. J.; BOITEUX, L. S.; CARPUTO, D. Meiotic mutants in potato: Valuable variants. Genetics, 153(4):1493-1499, 1999.).

Figure 2:
Abnormalities related to chromosome segregation during meiosis of Crotalaria spectabilis. (A) Metaphase II with parallel spindles configuration. (B) Tripolar segregation. (C) Triad. Scale bar: 5μm. (D) Large pollen grains (red arrow), probably with increased DNA content.

The abnormalities in the meiotic spindle verified in this C. spectabilis population indicates its potential for unreduced gametes production. Another evidence is the presence of large pollen grains, which is likely related to more genetic material than expected (Figure 2D). Our estimation of this potential, based on the proportion of dyads and triads (Yan et al., 1997YAN, G. et al. Numerically unreduced (2n) gametes and sexual polyploidization in Actinidia. Euphytica , 96:267-272, 1997.), shows that 1.43% of its pollen grains may be unreduced.

The production of 2n gametes in diploid populations is widely recognized as the main event that originates polyploid plants, with dramatic consequences for the evolutionary history of a genus (Bretagnolle; Thompson 1995BRETAGNOLLE, F.; THOMPSON, J. D. Gametes with the somatic chromosome number: Mechanisms of their formation and role in the evolution of autopolyploid plants. New Phytologist, 129(1):1-22, 1995.; Otto; Whitton 2000OTTO, S. P.; WHITTON, J. Polyploid incidence and evolution. Annual Review of Genetics, 34:401-437, 2000.; D’Erfurth et al., 2008D’ERFURTH, I. et al. Mutations in ATPS1 (Arabidopsis thaliana Parallel Spindle 1) lead to the production of diploid pollen grains. PLOS Genetics , 4:e1000274, 2008.). In Crotalaria, polyploidy is considered as an important event for the speciation within the section Calycinae (Flores et al., 2006FLORES, A. S. et al. Chromosome number in Brazilian species of Crotalaria L. (Leguminosae-Papilionoideae) and their taxonomic significance. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society , 151(2):271-277, 2006.) in America, last region colonized by Crotalaria species. It is not known if polyploid species are auto or allopolyploids. In this last case, production of unreduced gametes could have played a key role in the evolution of the genus.

CONCLUSIONS

We showed that the meiosis in the wild population of Crotalaria spectabilis presented cytomixis, elimination of genetic material throughout the whole cycle, either with or without active centromere. The immunolocalization of H3S10ph evidenced that centromeric inactivity is not the only putative mechanism underlying genetic material elimination. Moreover, the population of C. spectabilis used in this study has potential to produce unreduced gametes.

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS

Conceptual Idea: Braz, GT; Techio, VH; Torres, GA; Methodology design: Braz, GT; Resende, KFM; Paula, CMP; Techio, VH; Data collection: Braz, GT; Data analysis and interpretation: Braz, GT; Resende, KFM; Paula, CMP; Techio, VH; Torres, GA and Writing and editing: Braz, GT; Resende, KFM; Paula, CMP; Techio, VH; Torres, GA.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors thank the Brazilian agencies Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) and Coordenadoria de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) for financial support.

REFERENCES

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Publication Dates

  • Publication in this collection
    17 Oct 2022
  • Date of issue
    2022

History

  • Received
    06 June 2022
  • Accepted
    01 Sept 2022
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