Investigation of natural genetic modifiers of meiotic crossover frequency in Arabidopsis thaliana

Meiotic recombination, known as crossover, is a vital mechanism for generating genetic diversity in sexually reproducing populations. Recombination events are non-uniform across the genome, due to a variety of influences including chromatin structure, DNA-sequence, epigenetic marks and interference from other recombination events. These known factors do not fully explain the distribution of recombination events, and additionally do not account for all the variability in recombination frequency observed both between and within species. Furthermore, of the mechanisms that have been identified, many are not yet fully understood. In Arabidopsis thaliana, considerable variation is observed in recombination frequency and distribution between natural accessions. By investigating recombination events in A.thaliana, this project aimed to identify trans-acting modifiers of recombination frequency that varied between natural accessions. Identification of meiotic recombination modifiers was performed through Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) mapping in A.thaliana natural-accession cross populations. Populations were generated from crosses between two accessions which differed significantly for recombination frequency as measured across a defined region of the genome flanked by a fluorescent-reporter system. F1 plants were then self-fertilised to produce segregating mosaic F2 populations for mapping. Recombination frequency for specific genomic intervals was determined for each individual in the population through measurement of the segregation of flanking fluorescence-genes expressed in the products of meiosis - seeds or pollen. Individuals were also genotyped using accession-specific markers across the genome, at a marker density of one marker per 2-5Mb, depending on the chromosome. Association of variation in recombination frequency with specific sections of the genome differing between the parental accessions through QTL mapping revealed significant modifiers of meiotic recombination segregating within the populations. This resulted in the identification of three significant large-effect modifiers that differed between Col-0 and Cvi-0 accessions, on chromosomes 1 ,2 and 5, affecting recombination in an interval in the sub-telomere region of chromosome 3. An additional modifier on chromosome 4 affecting the same sub-telomeric interval was identified that differed between the Col-0 and Can-0 accessions. Further fine-mapping of modifiers to improve location resolution was performed by repeated backcrosses into the Col-0 genetic background to remove the influence of other large-effect QTL and possible unknown small-effect modifiers. Improving the resolution provided a number of potential candidates for genes underlying the recombination phenotype for each QTL. Candidate testing was then performed, either through transformation of different accession alleles into the fluorescent-reporter system, or through analysis of T-DNA insertion lines that interrupted candidate genes. Preliminary results from T-DNA insertion mutants crossed to the fluorescent-reporter system suggest a potential role for the AT2G31510 gene in modification of meiotic recombination frequency, though the mode of action remains unknown. These results demonstrate the presence of large-effect modifiers of meiotic recombination frequency that vary between the natural A.thaliana accessions Col-0, Cvi-0 and Can-0. Confirmation of underlying genes or sequence elements and characterisation of their mechanism of action are opportunities for exploration in future experiments.

Research was funded by a BBSRC DTP Studentship