Colorado State University

We are interested in the unique first division of meiosis. We use a variety of organisms, both plant and animal, to study this important and evolutionarily conserved process. During meiosis, homologous chromosomes recognize one another and come together (synapse) along their length to form a distinctive structure called the synaptonemal complex (SC). Using spreads of meiotic chromomosomes and light and electron microscopy (LM and EM), we examine SCs to determine how chromosomes behave during synapsis. We are also interested in genetic recombination that occurs during meiosis. Recombination probably occurs in structures called recombination nodules (RNs) that are associated with SCs during synapsis. There are two types of RNs, early RNs (that may be involved in early recombination events and possibly also synapsis) and late RNs (that mark crossover sites). We are examining the role(s) of different recombination-related proteins in the process of synapsis and recombination using immunofluorescence (LM) as well as immunogold (EM) techniques in wild-type and mutant tomato plants.