title: Normal segregation of a foreign-species chromosome during Drosophila female meiosis despite extensive heterochromatin divergence.
abstract: The abundance and composition of heterochromatin changes rapidly between species and contributes to hybrid incompatibility and reproductive isolation. Heterochromatin differences may also destabilize chromosome segregation and cause meiotic drive, the non-Mendelian segregation of homologous chromosomes. Here we use a range of genetic and cytological assays to examine the meiotic properties of a Drosophila simulans chromosome 4 (sim-IV) introgressed into D. melanogaster. These two species differ by ∼12-13% at synonymous sites and several genes essential for chromosome segregation have experienced recurrent adaptive evolution since their divergence. Furthermore, their chromosome 4s are visibly different due to heterochromatin divergence, including in the AATAT pericentromeric satellite DNA. We find a visible imbalance in the positioning of the two chromosome 4s in sim-IV/mel-IV heterozygote and also replicate this finding with a D. melanogaster 4 containing a heterochromatic deletion. These results demonstrate that heterochromatin abundance can have a visible effect on chromosome positioning during meiosis. Despite this effect, however, we find that sim-IV segregates normally in both diplo and triplo 4 D. melanogaster females and does not experience elevated nondisjunction. We conclude that segregation abnormalities and a high level of meiotic drive are not inevitable byproducts of extensive heterochromatin divergence. Animal chromosomes typically contain large amounts of noncoding repetitive DNA that nevertheless varies widely between species. This variation may potentially induce non-Mendelian transmission of chromosomes. We have examined the meiotic properties and transmission of a highly diverged chromosome 4 from a foreign species within the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster. This chromosome has substantially less of a simple sequence repeat than does D. melanogaster 4, and we find that this difference results in altered positioning when chromosomes align during meiosis. Yet this foreign chromosome segregates at normal frequencies, demonstrating that chromosome segregation can be robust to major differences in repetitive DNA abundance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois 60614 barbash@cornell.edu wgillila@depaul.edu.
authors.forename: William D
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Gilliland
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois 60614.
authors.forename: Eileen M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Colwell
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois 60614.
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Osiecki
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853.
authors.forename: Suna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853.
authors.forename: Deanna
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853.
authors.forename: Chandramouli
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rathnam
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853 barbash@cornell.edu wgillila@depaul.edu.
authors.forename: Daniel A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Barbash
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D020090:Chromosome Segregation; D059006:Chromosomes, Insect / Q000235:genetics*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal; D006570:Heterochromatin / Q000235:genetics*; D008540:Meiosis / Q000235:genetics*; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats
chemical_list: D006570:Heterochromatin
keywords: heterochromatic threads; meiosis; meiotic drive