Control of meiotic crossover recombination in plants

Abstract

Meiotic homologous recombination is initiated by DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) formation catalyzed by topoisomerase VI-like complex containing SPO11. Meiotic DSBs are repaired to generate reciprocal crossovers, increasing genetic variation. The crossover is limited to one to three numbers along chromosomes and biased toward sub-telomeric regions, which restricts combination or separation of linked alleles in plant breeding. We are investigating the mechanisms how plant meiotic recombination is controlled by meiotic proteins and chromatin structure. To achieve our goals we apply advanced methods of recombination measurements at different scales from single base-pair to genome. I will describe our current projects of understanding on meiotic recombination and the advanced approaches such as SPO11-1-oligonucleoitide seq, pollen typing, fluorescent reporter systems, genotyping-by-sequencing and a forward genetic screen of crossover rate mutants by high-throughput fluorescent seed-scoring. Finally I will discuss how we can manipulate crossovers for plant breeding.