Cytogenetics of collared lemmings (Dicrostonyx groenlandicus). I. Meiotic behavior and evolution of the neo-XY sex-chromosome system. Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Electron-microscopic analysis of surface-spread synaptonemal complexes at pachynema and light-microscopic analysis of chromosomal configurations at diakinesis/metaphase I corroborate the hypothesized neo-XY derivation of the sex chromosomes of Dicrostonyx groenlandicus. Although an intact neo-XY pairing configuration was observed in a relatively small percentage of the pachytene cells in each individual, the high incidence of neo-XY bivalents at diakinesis/metaphase I suggests that the other observed pachytene configurations were artifacts of the physical stresses of the surface-spreading procedure. The very low frequency (0.6%) of univalent neo-X and neo-Y chromosomes at diakinesis and metaphase I is attributable to consistent synapsis and recombination between their homologous autosomally derived segments. The resultant stability of the sex bivalent through metaphase I may have increased the efficacy of sex-chromosome segregation, and thereby played a mechanistic role in the evolutionary incorporation of the neo-XY sex-chromosome constitution in D. groenlandicus.

published proceedings

  • Cytogenet Cell Genet

author list (cited authors)

  • Berend, S. A., Hale, D. W., Engstrom, M. D., & Greenbaum, I. F.

citation count

  • 10

complete list of authors

  • Berend, SA||Hale, DW||Engstrom, MD||Greenbaum, IF

publication date

  • January 1997