AUTHOR=Martín Azahara Carmen , Borrill Philippa , Higgins Janet , Alabdullah Abdulkader , Ramírez-González Ricardo H. , Swarbreck David , Uauy Cristobal , Shaw Peter , Moore Graham TITLE=Genome-Wide Transcription During Early Wheat Meiosis Is Independent of Synapsis, Ploidy Level, and the Ph1 Locus JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science VOLUME=9 YEAR=2018 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2018.01791 DOI=10.3389/fpls.2018.01791 ISSN=1664-462X ABSTRACT=
Polyploidization is a fundamental process in plant evolution. One of the biggest challenges faced by a new polyploid is meiosis, particularly discriminating between multiple related chromosomes so that only homologous chromosomes synapse and recombine to ensure regular chromosome segregation and balanced gametes. Despite its large genome size, high DNA repetitive content and similarity between homoeologous chromosomes, hexaploid wheat completes meiosis in a shorter period than diploid species with a much smaller genome. Therefore, during wheat meiosis, mechanisms additional to the classical model based on DNA sequence homology, must facilitate more efficient homologous recognition. One such mechanism could involve exploitation of differences in chromosome structure between homologs and homoeologs at the onset of meiosis. In turn, these chromatin changes, can be expected to be linked to transcriptional gene activity. In this study, we present an extensive analysis of a large RNA-seq data derived from six different genotypes: wheat, wheat–rye hybrids and newly synthesized octoploid triticale, both in the presence and absence of the