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SUMMARY:How genetic polymorphism shapes meiotic crossover frequency in Ara
 bidopsis thaliana - Piotr Ziolkowski\, Epigenetics
DTSTART:20130215T130000Z
DTEND:20130215T133000Z
UID:TALK42764@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:24938
DESCRIPTION:Although the impact of polymorphism on crossover has been well
  established at the fine scale\, little is known about its effect in a gen
 ome-wide manner. I am interested in exploring the influence of natural gen
 etic variation on CO patterns in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. We 
 have developed high-throughput systems for measuring recombination frequen
 cy using linked transgenes expressing distinct colours of fluorescent prot
 ein via (i) flow cytometry-based analysis in pollen and (ii) and fluoresce
 nce microscopy in seed. Both techniques enable us to analyze 1\,000s-100\,
 000s of recombination events within a relatively short time and obtain rob
 ust measures of CO frequency\, and genetic interference. We have crossing 
 natural A. thaliana accessions with the standard laboratory accession Col-
 0 lines bearing our reporter transgenes. In F1 plants we observe a change 
 in genetic distance\, but its relationship with the degree of genetic poly
 morphism is not straightforward. We have generated an F2 population in one
  case and observed extensive variation in CO rate between individuals. Int
 eresting\, by genetic mapping we found a strong correlation between CO fre
 quency in the interval and homo- / heterozygosity along the chromosome. Ou
 r further investigations shows it is chromosomal location independent. At 
 the moment we are working to dissect the molecular mechanism that are resp
 onsible for this effect. This research will elucidate mechanisms that regu
 late meiotic recombination frequency in natural populations of plants.
LOCATION:Department of Plant Sciences\, Large Lecture Theatre
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