Abstract
ALTHOUGH chiasmata have long been thought to be sites of crossing over exchange between chromosomes during meiosis, in keeping with the partial chiasmatype hypothesis1,2, there has been no convincing visual evidence of this despite many attempts (summarised in refs 3–6). Taylor7 confirmed by autoradiography that meiotic crossing over occurs by exchange involving breakage and reunion of chromatids. However, because of the poor resolution of autoradiography, requiring study of meiotic chromosomes after 1st metaphase, and because of interference by sister chromatid exchanges, a one-to-one correspondence between chiasmata and exchanges of labelled chromatid segments could not be established8,9. The difficulty was alleviated by correlating chiasmata and exchanges with temperature variation10, or by selecting a species with localised chiasmata and thus with predictable points of exchange11. 5-Bromodeoxyuridine (BUdR) substitution with differential labelling and consequent differential staining of mitotic chromosomes12–15 offer the potential for studying chromosomes at 1st meiotic metaphase, giving an unequivocal picture and separating sister chromatid exchanges from chiasma exchange points between homologues. Tease16 has reported success with male grasshopper meiotic chromosomes, but an attempt with the male mouse showed only sister chromatid exchanges in the sex chromosomes, and the autosomal bivalents at 1st meiotic metaphase were not differentially stained17. In the male Armenian hamster the sex chromosomes showed differential staining and an apparent exchange of segments but again the autosomes were not critically differentially stained18. This may be partly due to the make-up of the male meiotic chromosomes. We have overcome these problems by using an in vitro/in vivo technique19 which enables us to expose the differentiating germ cells of embryonic ovaries to BUdR in vitro and to collect and display the chromosomes20 of the mature oocytes some time after transplantation into young spayed adults. We report our results here.
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POLANI, P., CROLLA, J., SELLER, M. et al. Meiotic crossing over exchange in the female mouse visualised by BUdR substitution. Nature 278, 348–349 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1038/278348a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/278348a0
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