Peculiarities of Meiosis in Drosophila: A Classical Object of Genetics Has Nonstandard Meiosis

Meiosis in Drosophila differs from the canonical type. Males lack synaptonemal complexes, chiasmata, and crossing-over. Only females have these classical traits of meiosis. However, during meiosis prophase I, female Drosophila lack the bouquet-like chromosome arrangement, an accessory mechanism for...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inBiology bulletin reviews Vol. 8; no. 4; pp. 279 - 291
Main Authors Grishaeva, T. M., Bogdanov, Yu. F.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Moscow Pleiades Publishing 2018
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
Biochemistry
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Cell Biology
Chromosomes
Crossing-over
Drosophila
Ecology
Females
Insects
Life Sciences
Meiosis
Prophase
Zoology
meiosis
chromocenter
synaptonemal complex
crossing over
chromosomes
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Summary:Meiosis in Drosophila differs from the canonical type. Males lack synaptonemal complexes, chiasmata, and crossing-over. Only females have these classical traits of meiosis. However, during meiosis prophase I, female Drosophila lack the bouquet-like chromosome arrangement, an accessory mechanism for homologous chromosomes synapsis that is typical for the majority of eukaryotes. Instead, the pericentromeric heterochromatic regions of chromosomes are fused into the chromocenter. This leads to peculiarities in the pairing, synapsis, and segregation of chromosomes and to the so-called interchromosomal phenomena (effects). During late prophase I in females, chromosomes are packed in a karyosome, which is also characteristic of females in other animals with the nutrimental type of egg nutrition. The dissimilarities of meiosis in Drosophila from the classical scheme do not affect significantly its genetic consequences.
ISSN:2079-0864
2079-0872
DOI:10.1134/S2079086418040047