ibclogo XVI International Botanical Congess

Abstract Number: 2541
Session = 12.13.1


MEIOTIC ROLES OF THE ARABIDOPSIS COHESIN DIF1


A.M. Bhatt*, J.Costa-Nunes*, F. Osman*, C. Lister^, P.Fransz, G.J.H. Jones, J. Doonan^, C.Dean^, and H.G. Dickinson*. *Univ. of Oxford, UK, ^John Innes Centre, UK, Univ. of Birmingham, UK


The DIF1 gene encodes a cohesin, and belongs to the REC8/RAD21 gene family. DIF1 was cloned by transposon mutagenesis, and the dif1 mutant is defective in meiosis, with no obvious vegetative phenotype. Several stages of meiosis are defective in dif1 plants, defects are first evident by metaphase I, when pollen mother cells (PMC) show chromosome fragmentation and univalents. In addition, dif1 PMC's also show acentric fragments and chromatin bridges during anaphase & telophase of meiosis I & II. The functional complementation of yeast cohesin mutants and the expression of DIF1 will be presented. We are also developing chromosome-tagging techniques to examine early stages of meiosis in vivo, and the application of these tools to probe chromosome dynamics will be discussed.

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