Meiotic chromosome synapsis and recombination in Arabidopsis thaliana: new ways of integrating cytological and molecular approaches

Meiosis is an evolutionary conserved mechanism that produces haploid gametes and is essential for the sexual reproduction of higher eukaryotes. Since the late nineteenth century, meiosis has been studied in plants due their large chromosomes compared with other organisms and due to advances in microscopy and cytological approaches. On the other hand, non-plant model organisms like budding yeast have been widely used recently in order to characterise the molecular and functional aspects of meiosis. Arabidopsis arose as a new meiotic model for plants during the last decade of the twentieth century. This emergence was sustained by different molecular and genetic advances, mainly by completing the full genome sequence in 2000. Since then, further development of molecular technologies and the cytological methodologies to analyse the meiotic dynamics in Arabidopsis have permitted researchers to establish plant meiosis at the forefront of international research. Some key plant meiotic recombination events have been established in Arabidopsis. These advances have placed researchers into the position to transfer their knowledge from this plant meiotic model to crops and are likely to have an impact on plant breeding and the development of agriculture in future years.