Journal of Cell Science, Vol 37, Issue 1 125-141, Copyright © 1979 by Company of Biologists

JOURNAL ARTICLES

An experimental analysis of bivalent interlocking in spermatocytes of the new Triturus vulgaris

HG Callan and SM Pearce

Interlocked bivalents at 1st meiotic metaphase are relatively uncommon in spermatocytes of the newt Triturus vulgaris, but their frequency of occurrence can be significantly increased by subjecting newts to a 24-h heat shock. Newt spermatocytes are sensitive to a heart shock at any stage between the end of premeiotic S and mid to late pachytene. The heat shock does not cause evidence desynapsis, nor does it significantly affect chiasma frequency; therefore the interlocked condition induced in spermatocytes which were subjected to a heat shock when they were in zygotene or pachytene is unlikely to be a consequence of synaptic trapping. By way of explanation it is suggested that a heat shock may cause telomers to detach from the nuclear membrane, or from the synaptonemal complex where the latter is attached to the membrane, thus allowing non-homologous chromonemata to become interwined before chiasmata have formed. If this explanation is valid, it is then further suggested that the recombination process which results in chiasma formation probably takes place in chromosomal regions lying outside the synaptonemal complex, rather than inside, between its 2 lateral elements.