Dynamics of interphase chromosome territories and occurrence of homologous pairing of Arabidopsis chromosomes

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Ingo Schubert
• Subject Area: Plant Cell and Developmental Biology
• Term: from 2003 to 2008
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5419111

Differential painting of entire Arabidopsis thaliana chromosomes and of homeologous chromosomes of related species by FISH with chromosome-specific BAC contiges has been established successfully. Based on this prerequisite, painting of interphase chromosome territories (CTs) and FISH with chromosome-specific sequences on isolated nuclei of different cell cycle and developmental stages of two Arabidopsis species with different chromosome numbers (A. thaliana, x=5 and A. arenosa, x-8) should reveal for the first time the spatial arrangement and dynamics of CTs in euploid plants. In particular, the occurrence and potential dynamics of somatic homologous pairing will be clarified by comparison of the experimental results with model simulations of random CT arrangements and punctual homologous pairing. Mutants, mutagen treatments and transgenic lines will be applied to test for potential correlations of modified recombination behaviour and of DNA damage with the structure and arrangement of interphase CTs as predicted from random simulations and by the frequency of homologopus reciprocal translocations.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants