Heat stress reveals a specialized variant of the pachytene checkpoint in meiosis of Arabidopsis thaliana

TY - JOUR

T1 - Heat stress reveals a specialized variant of the pachytene checkpoint in meiosis of Arabidopsis thaliana

AU - De Jaeger-Braet, Joke

AU - Krause, Linda

AU - Buchholz, Anika

AU - Schnittger, Arp

N1 - © The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of American Society of Plant Biologists.

PY - 2022/1/20

Y1 - 2022/1/20

N2 - Plant growth and fertility strongly depend on environmental conditions such as temperature. Remarkably, temperature also influences meiotic recombination and thus, the current climate change will affect the genetic make-up of plants. To better understand the effects of temperature on meiosis, we followed male meiocytes in Arabidopsis thaliana by live cell imaging under three temperature regimes: at 21°C; at heat shock conditions of 30°C and 34°C; after an acclimatization phase of 1 week at 30°C. This work led to a cytological framework of meiotic progression at elevated temperature. We determined that an increase from 21°C to 30°C speeds up meiosis with specific phases being more amenable to heat than others. An acclimatization phase often moderated this effect. A sudden increase to 34°C promoted a faster progression of early prophase compared to 21°C. However, the phase in which cross-overs mature was prolonged at 34°C. Since mutants involved in the recombination pathway largely did not show the extension of this phase at 34°C, we conclude that the delay is recombination-dependent. Further analysis also revealed the involvement of the ATAXIA TELANGIECTASIA MUTATED kinase in this prolongation, indicating the existence of a pachytene checkpoint in plants, yet in a specialized form.

AB - Plant growth and fertility strongly depend on environmental conditions such as temperature. Remarkably, temperature also influences meiotic recombination and thus, the current climate change will affect the genetic make-up of plants. To better understand the effects of temperature on meiosis, we followed male meiocytes in Arabidopsis thaliana by live cell imaging under three temperature regimes: at 21°C; at heat shock conditions of 30°C and 34°C; after an acclimatization phase of 1 week at 30°C. This work led to a cytological framework of meiotic progression at elevated temperature. We determined that an increase from 21°C to 30°C speeds up meiosis with specific phases being more amenable to heat than others. An acclimatization phase often moderated this effect. A sudden increase to 34°C promoted a faster progression of early prophase compared to 21°C. However, the phase in which cross-overs mature was prolonged at 34°C. Since mutants involved in the recombination pathway largely did not show the extension of this phase at 34°C, we conclude that the delay is recombination-dependent. Further analysis also revealed the involvement of the ATAXIA TELANGIECTASIA MUTATED kinase in this prolongation, indicating the existence of a pachytene checkpoint in plants, yet in a specialized form.

U2 - 10.1093/plcell/koab257

DO - 10.1093/plcell/koab257

M3 - SCORING: Journal article

C2 - 34718750

VL - 34

SP - 433

EP - 454

JO - PLANT CELL

JF - PLANT CELL

SN - 1040-4651

IS - 1

ER -